Romeo and Cinderella
by Christie Ralte
Summary: All her life, Claire wanted nothing more than to be a normal girl, but with an over-protective father who prohibits her from going out, will she be able to live out the dream she's always long for and maybe even find love? Set in a high school AU. Edited.
1. A new 'life!

**Hello everyone! My first time posting a Harvest Moon fanfic! Inspired from the Vocaloid song 'Romeo and Cinderella', with a few twists from my side, hey, I did say 'inspired'. So, read, enjoy and review, I'd really appreciate it! I'm okay with criticism too, if it means I can get better at writing. Also, Italics means that they are Claire's thoughts or anyone's thoughts in their P. , but it's mainly Claire's P.O.V.**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Harvest Moon**

**Prequel - A new 'life'!**

_My name is Claire Regison, I am the 'princess' of Flower Valley kingdom, although we don't really follow that type of ruling system, our ancestors were once the kings and queens of the kingdom. So they still carry on this tradition of naming their children prince or princess and raise them to be fine 'rulers'... Well, I'm tired of it, everyday I have to maintain my dignity as a 'princess', have proper etiquette and being constantly watched and having to meet the expectations of my parents and relatives. One of the reasons why my brother, Will, left home. We stay in touch with each other through letters, but he decided to never come home again. I would run away too, if I could..._

_I go to 'Prestige Cultural High', a school meant for high class people, I have friends and all but they're just faking it to get close to the royal family. I want real friends!_

\- Regison mansion -

I was sitting at the dining table with my mum and dad, we were discussing about my future studies. "So, which school should we send her?" my mum asked. She's really pretty with long blonde hair and clear sapphire eyes, I probably resemble my mother.

"Isn't Prestige Cultural High good enough?" my dad said, he's well built with dark blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"Um... I don't want to go there anymore..." I said, in a soft tone

"What? Why? You've been going there all these years!" my dad said, shocked at my statement

"Yes, I did, but I don't have and real friends there, and that boy from before already-"

"Not a word about him!" my dad cut me off, I don't really know why, but my dad harbors hatred towards my 'boy' friend.

"My apologies... Anyway, its just that I want to have real friends."

"Hmm... If she doesn't want to go there, how about Spring Dale? It has the second best education next to Prestige Cultural High." my mum stated.

I looked expectantly at my dad hoping he'd agree, after a few seconds which seemed like hours of nervous anticipation for me, he finally said, "Hmm.. Spring Dale huh. Let's see how you fare. I don't want you having manner-less friends who'll taint you with bad manners."

"Dad, I can control myself quite well to not be tainted with the 'bad manners'." I simply stated, emphasis on 'the', but feeling really happy inside.

_Finally! I am going to a 'higher-than-average' school! Oh, how long I've waited for this. I wonder what kind of friends I'll make. I can finally be treated as a normal girl for once in my life! Like I said, I'm tired of people calling me 'princess', 'Malady' and such other names they call royalty and treating me as such, too... 'Boring'._

_The few remaining days of the vacation passed by quickly and the days of the first semester for Spring Dale, my new school, finally arrived! I wore my new uniform which is pretty well made, sleeves just above the elbow with a red line at the end, a short dark blue necktie, for girls only, and the skirt is knee length with the colour being darkish grey. The sock is black in colour with a line pattern of red-yellow-red at the top. There is a choice of a pull-over type and long sleeved sweater, but I choose not to wear them for now._

_I ate breakfast quickly and then went for school as I 'ordered' our servants to not accompany nor fetch me to and from school. I don't want to draw any attention whatsoever, just looking like a normal high school girl. Thinking about all the new friends I'm gonna make is making me excited as my heart beat really fast, I can't wait to see this new school!_

**I do hope you all like it. I'll try to make the Characters as in-character as possible. And, as you might've noticed, I mixed up Claire's name with Will from Sunshine Island, I think they kinda look alike...And also about her parents, think of them like Jude and Layla Heartfilia of Fairy Tail (Lucy's parents) with their eye colours exchanged. That aside, look forward to the next chapter where I will introduce other characters. **


	2. New friends!

**Wow, two stories in I day! But the first chapter was just a prequel. I hope you like the first chapter! I'm trying to improve in my story writings so please give me some advice. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Harvest Moon!**

**Chapter 1 - New friends!**

I entered the school building and saw that about two-third of the students here were playing around and having fun starting from before morning classes. _This school has some 'rowdy' students alright, not that I'm complaining, I like it this way_. I located my classroom at the second floor and took a seat near a window at the opposite side of the classroom door, then homeroom began.

The teacher came in and we sat down after we wished him and then he introduced himself.

"Hello students, you can call me teacher Harris. I'll be in charge of you all for the whole school year. Now, I've remember all your names from last year's class but I see we have a new classmates as well. Please, introduce yourself miss." I stood up- wait, am I the only new student here? Anyway- "My name is Claire... Williams, pleased to make your acquaintance." the whole class fell silent, _did they notice I'm the-_

"Well, nice to meet you Claire, I hope you feel right at home as your old school in here. You may sit." teacher Harris greeted.

I took my seat and the lessons started just after. Later, it was break time and almost the whole class went outside, _in my old school, no one ever went out, they like to study instead, well, unless they had something to attend to during break_. A girl approached me from across my seat.

"Hey there, new g- I mean Claire! It's correct right? I mean the name."

"Wha- oh, yes, it is. Nice to meet you... Um."

"Oh silly me! My names Chelsea Snowdrop. You can call me Chelsea!" she said, _oh my! My first friend and she seems so nice already!_

"Hey, I'll introduce you to my friends over there!" she said, pointing towards empty seats...

"Hey! They've left me behind again!" waving arms frantically.

I smiled_, she's a funny character, I don't think anything would be boring with her_, then she held out her hand and said,

"Come on, I'll take you to where they are!".

I reached out my hand, she grabbed it and then started to run while guiding me through the corridors.

"Where are we going?" I asked, while panting.

"To our 'Secret base'!" she replied, continuing to run.

_Secret base? Were they some sort of organization?_

She led me to the rooftop where a small storage-shed type house stood.

"We're here! Hey, are you tired already?" she asked.

"Y-yeah, that's the first time I've ever ran that fast" I said, in between breaths.

"You're kidding me! Anyway, welcome to our humble secret base. We asked the teachers for permission to use this room, it wasn't being used anyway. We cleaned it, put in some indoor furniture and now its fit for people to stay!" she explained, as she opened the door.

"Hey guys! Why'd you run off without me?" she asked, pouting to the other people inside the room.

"Well you were really slow." one of them replied.

"I had a reason! Anyway, meet our new friend!" she declared, as she pulled me inside

"H-hello, nice to meet you all." I said, a bit shy to be introduced to some unfamiliar face.

"Ah, Claire Williams, right? Nice to meet you too, my name is Jill Crystal." a girl with brown hair tied to a pony tail and purple eyes said.

Then a girl with long black hair said,

"I'm Mary Luke".

Then a boy with brownish blonde hair came forward and introduced himself,

"I'm Rock Samson. These two are Cliff Alexander and Vaughn Gerald." he pointed to two boys at the back, one had silver-ish hair with amethyst eyes and the other had brown hair and eyes. _Somehow, he looked a lot like someone I know way back but can't put my finger at it._

"It seems our last 'member' is missing, as always. No need to introduce him, you'll meet him eventually anyway. Oh, welcome to our group!" Ashley said

"Y-yeah." was the only thing I could say, I felt speechless_, so many new friends all in one day and they seem so nice as well!_

_You won't have to worry about me now dad._ I thought as I looked at my new friends.

The day seemed so short, its already time for school to end. We said our goodbyes as we headed home.

**-Regison mansion-**

At dinner time, our family, which only consisted of me, mum and dad, dined together. Then mum asked,

"So, how was your new school?"

"It was very fun! No one knew me, the teachers didn't recognize me either and for once, I was treated as a normal girl! I've also made many friends as they led me to their secret base in the former storage room at the roof top."

"Secret base? Are your new friends bunking classes? And did you say roof top? That's dangerous!" my dad said, getting overly worried for my well being again, and so I assured him

"No, they don't bunk classes, they only go there during breaks. And its not dangerous, there are fences all round the roof."

I guess he calmed down after I said that as we continued to eat our dinner.

"Well, as long as they don't do anything bad, I guess its okay." my dad stated.

I don't believe this, my dad said okay of my new friends at the first I mentioned them! He normally wouldn't accept them having secret bases and such, I guess he understands that I wanted to be treated normally now!

Later, before I went to bed, I would look up at the stars. It always makes me feel calm whenever I'm upset and makes me feel like I'm in a whole new different world. While doing so, I spotted a shooting star, so I made a wish.

_'I wish that the coming days will be filled with adventures and fun... And I also wish that I may be able to meet 'that' boy again soon...'_

With that, I went to sleep, while thinking of the many fun times I'll be able to experience in this school accompanied by new friends...

**And with this. The first official chapter is done! Please forgive me if it's boring right now, but I assure you all, it's gonna get interesting very soon! Look forward to it. And yes, I'm mixing the characters of different HM games, but I won't add ALL the characters, sorry... Of course, please review, it make me really happy and energized, and as I said, tell me where I can improve in my writings, all I want is for the readers to be happy with the way I write!**


	3. After School Chase

**Hello again everyone! Thank you for waiting! Now, without further ado, here's Chapter 2!**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Harvest Moon!**

**Chapter 2 - After School Chase**

_A few days has passed since I entered Spring Dale, and I must say, they were the most exciting days I've had in all my school years. I've became great friends with Chelsea and the others from the 'Secret Base', they readily opened up to me and never once mentioned nor asked me about my family background. Finally, I'm treated as a normal girl._

**-Regison Mansion, dining table-**

"Morning, mum. Where's dad?"

"He went to work early today."

"I see. Did dad say anything about telling the servants to accompany or fetch me to and from school?" I asked, knowing dad, he just might.

"Hmm. I don't think so. He didn't mention anything about it."

"Thank goodness. It's just that, I want to hide my identity and I also don't wan to be flashy like some rich kids I know back at Prestige...".

_Just thinking about those snobby kids make me shiver in disgust. Yeah, we're rich too, but still..._

"My my, and what do you plan on doing now? Now that you're going to a 'normal' school." mum asked.

"First, I want to have real friends, and my friends right now are the examples, they added me to their circle without knowing my background. Then, I also want to find true love, like in fairy tales!" I said, dreamily.

"Goodness, a time will come for that, you needn't rush it."

"I know, mum, I know. Well, I'll be heading to school now, bye, mum." I bid goodbye, as I left the dining room.

**-Spring Dale School, school grounds-**

'Hmm... True friends.. True love... I hope I-' my thoughts were cut off when I bumped into someone.

"Oh, my deepest apologies-" I said, in panic.

"Whoa there, calm down. It's only me, Cliff."

I looked up to see Cliff's face, I was mesmerized by his hazel brown eyes for a second, before I replied,

"Oh, Cliff. Sorry, I wasn't looking and-"

"No worries, by the way, that tone you used was-"

_Ahh, I forgot that in my haste to apologize, I used my 'royalty manner' tone!_

"F-forget that! I-It's nothing!" I replied, hurriedly to change the topic somehow.

"O-kay... A secret between us then, that tone you used? You seem embarrassed about it." he opted.

"Yes, a secret. So don't tell anyone." I said.

"Of course. Anyway, gotta go, see you later." he said with a wave, then left.

Whew, I avoided a land mine, conceal that manner Claire, you can do it!... Better head to class now.

**-time skip to lunch break-**

I was taking out my lunch box when Chelsea came over to me and said,

"Claire, let's head to the 'Secret Base', we can have our lunch there, besides, I have something to discuss with the others.", then we went to the 'Secret Base'.

**-Secret Base-**

"Okay! Now that we're all here, I have something important to say. Ahem, today, we shall visit our new member's, a.k.a Claire's, house!" Chelsea declared.

I spat out the water I was currently drinking, _this can't be, there's no way I can let them see my house, else they'd treat me as..._

"Claire, what's wrong?" Jill asked.

"Oh, n-nothing, I'm fine." I replied.

"Where's your house located anyway? You never mentioned about it." Jack asked.

_This is really bad, I need to think of a way to NOT let them come over! Think Claire, think of any possible means!_

"Uh... Just around the corner, b-but it's really messy and you won't like it!" I said.

"Messy? Don't worry, we'll clean it up with you while we're there!" Jill said.

"A-and you have to climb all the way to the top floor as the elevators broken!" I said, again.

"That's okay too! A little exercise is good for us." Mary said.

"And, and, ah! We have two really hyper dogs and they always jump on visitors." I said, I was desperate now, it seems that no matter what I say, they always counter it.

"Dogs? Don't worry, we all can handle dogs really well!" Jack said.

"Eeh, but, but, we have-" I was cut off by Chelsea,

"Claire, are you trying to persuade us not to come?"

_Ahh, she figured it out!_

"N-no, I'm not. I-I'm just saying that to, to make you all prepared to come, that's all...",

_I give up, no matter what I say, they won't budge anyway._

"Good! Then it's settled, we'll go to Claire's house!" Chelsea exclaimed.

_If I can't persuade them not to come, then there's only one choice left. Run away from them after school._

**-After School-**

"Jill, you guys ready yet? We have to go to Claire's, remember?" Chelsea asked, walking towards Jill's desk.

_Now's my chance, I'll run away while they're distracted_. Then, without warning,I grabbed my bag and ran out the classroom as fast as I could.

"Hey, she's running away! After her, she couldn't have gone far knowing she's a slow runner!" Chelsea exclaimed, as she ran after Claire.

I almost reached the gates when I heard Chelsea screaming, telling me to stop, I ran faster, I never knew I could run this fast in distress. Well, I was never in a tight spot before I came here.

"I thought you say she's a slow runner!" Jill said, getting out if breath.

"I didn't know she could run this fast in distress!" Chelsea answered, the spotted Vaughn near the gates. "Vaughn! Catch Cl- ah! She ran out in time!"

"What's wrong? Why are you guys running?" Vaughn asked.

"We were chasing Claire! She's trying to prevent us to go to her house!" Chelsea answered, catching her breath.

"Is that so, I think Cliff's over the direction she went, if we hurry, we might be able to find them both." he proposed, as they started running after Claire again.

I'm out of breath now, I looked back to see no one of the 'Secret Base' members. _Whew, I'm safe_. Then I spotted Cliff a bit in front o me. It seems he was talking to the phone, then he turned around and spotted me, then head towards me and said, "Hey Claire, forgive me, but I think I need to stop you for some reason."

_Great, the others must be the one who contacted him_, I made a dash for it, I was already tired and I knew I wouldn't last long, with Cliff running after me, _there's only one option left_! I made a quick turn at the intersection and entered one of my favorite shops, the 'Aja winery'.

"Aunt Manna, quick, can I hide behind the counter for a while?" I said in a rush.

Of course. What's the matter? Why are you so out of breath?" aunt Manna asked.

"Well, you see, my friends want to come over to my house, but I'm scared that once they see it, they won't treat me the same anymore, so I ran away from them after school, and I need to hide here for a while." I replied, as I slid down to sit on the floor next to where aunt Manna was sitting.

_I really like aunt Manna, I don't care if she owns a winery shop. Apparently, this shop was named 'Aja winery' as Aja was aunt Manna's and uncle Duke's daughter, who went to another place a few years back. Her husband, uncle Duke works in our mansion as one of our butlers, but come here to help aunt Manna from time to time. When I was little, she'd come to visit me and take care of me as a substitute nanny when my original nanny was busy. At first, I thought her strange as she was so talkative, but now, I like her, she's one of the few persons in our mansion to treat me as a normal girl._

Aunt Manna laughed and said, "Ah yes, you did say to treat you like a normal girl, right? You'd always say that when you were little. My, how you've grown since then! It seems like only yesterday that you were starting school, now you're in high school now. So, these friends of yours treat you normally, yes?"

"Yes, they do, and I really like them as well, it's just that I don't want them to come over. What would my dad think of them, knowing him, he'd forbid me to be near them if they make one wrong move." I said as I breathed out a sigh.

"Yes, your father is quite strict, but do know that he's doing it for you as well. Though, I do believe that he can be over the top sometimes." aunt Manna added.

We continued to chat away for a while, while I waited a bit to make sure that my friends give up their chase.

**Normal P.O.V**

Meanwhile, Chelsea and the others caught up with Cliff, who was standing near the intersection Claire took to 'disappear' from them, which, unknown to him was that Claire just went inside the 'Aja winery'.

"Cliff! Where's Claire? We told you to not let her escape." Chelsea asked.

"Sorry, she made a run for it and I lost track of her just as she turned to this side of the intersection." he answered, pointing to Mineral street.

"You mean she disappeared like magic?" Jack asked.

"Don't be silly, maybe she hid somewhere, let's go search the alleys or some place near where she could hide." Jill proposed, then they began their search.

A few minutes later, they gave up searching for her, Claire was nowhere to be found.

"What should we do now?" Mary asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We go home for now. BUT, we'll follow her every school evening and try to find her house!" Chelsea said.

"This is going to be a pain." Vaughn muttered, and Cliff agreed, doing this every evening was going to be tiresome at the least.

"Okay, now that we made a decision, we'll start operation 'Find out where Claire lives' from tomorrow!", Chelsea fist-pumped in the air. The others sweat-dropped, thinking 'You were the one who made the decision...', then they went back home.

**Claire's P.O.V**

Back at the 'Aja winery'.

"Well, aunt Manna, it was fun talking to you again, it's been a while since I arrived here so I should take my leave, I think they'd already given up the chase. Oh, and can I come here again? I feel like they'll be following me every evening from now on." I asked, as I stood up from behind the counter.

"Why of course, you can come here anytime. But, be careful, if your father finds out about this, I don't know what he'll do." aunt Manna said.

"Okay, thanks for worrying, but don't worry, I saved a lot of time by running here, so I can reach home in normal time. Goodbye!" I assured her as I took my leave.

_Well, just as expected, the others followed, or should you say chased me every school evening. But, like I asked aunt Manna, I reached the Aja winery just in time to lose them. This went on for about a week until..._

**Normal P.O.V**

**-Spring Dale School-**

"Hurry up guys! We need to chase after Claire at full speed!" Chelsea scolded, running ahead of Mary and Jill, Cliff and Vaughn were way behind, walking at a slow pace and Jack running a bit ahead of Chelsea.

"I'm already at my full speed, I can't run faster than this." Mary answered in between breaths.

"Chelsea, I don't think we should continue this operation anymore! Its tiresome and we always lose Claire at the intersection anyway!" Jill exclaimed, as they ran through the streets, people giving them confused stared.

"I'm determined to find out where she lives!" Chelsea answered back.

"Hey, she's turning to the intersection again!" Jack alerted.

"Then let's hurry! Chelsea exclaimed.

"Don't they ever give up? She always disappears after she turned at the intersection anyway." Vaughn asked Cliff, they watched the others reach the intersection, though they weren't too far behind either.

"I guess its Chelsea's determined attitude that keeps them going." Cliff replied, sweat-dropping.

They turned to the intersection just in time to see Claire being forcefully taken away by men in black suits, almost like secret agents. They put her in a black car and drove away.


	4. She's our friend!

**Hello again everyone! I hope you like this chapter as well, and if you remember that back in Chapter - 1 (2 including the prologue) there was an unnamed character in the 'secret Base' members, well, you're about to find out who that character is! Look forward to it! **

**Lauren_Redman_58 : thank you ****for following and favoriting this story! And I'm sorry for not putting full stops instead, but whenever I save it, it always comes out as only .58!**

**Disclaimer - I do not own Harvest Moon!**

Chapter - 3 She's our friend!

**Normal P.O.V**

When the gang saw Claire being taken away, all they could do was stare in shock, just as the men drove away, Chelsea snapped out of her shock and exclaimed, "Hey! Wasn't that daylight kidnapping? Have they no shame doing that in broad daylight? That aside, we have to save Claire! Claire's been kidnapped right in front of our eyes for goodness sake! I say let's follow them!", then she ran without waiting for the others.

"I say Chelsea's right in here, we have to save Claire!" Jill also spoke, then ran ahead to join Chelsea, followed by Mary and Jack. Cliff and Vaughn were about to follow them as well when a woman ran out from the 'Aja winery' and hollered for them.

"Oh, please tell me you're not going after Claire!" the woman said.

"We are, what's wrong ma'am?" Cliff asked the woman.

"Please, I beg you, tell your friends to stop following that car! I'll tell you the details when you get back, please!" the woman pleaded.

Vaughn was unsure as to trust this woman or not, then Cliff answered, "We'll stop them."

"Cliff? What are you-", Vaughn was cut off by Cliff,

"Lets go Vaughn, she looks like she'll panic if we don't hurry for the others."

With another look on the woman, Vaughn followed his friend and went to get their friends back.

Soon, the gang were all sat in the interior of the 'Aja winery', then Chelsea spoke up, "Tell me why we're taken back here instead of saving Claire from those kidnappers.".

"I'll tell you, but first, promise me that you kids will never try to follow Claire home again." the woman spoke.

They thought for a minute, well, Chelsea was, the others didn't mind stopping the operation, it was too tiresome, as they call it. Then Chelsea agreed the woman's condition. Then the woman continued,

"My name is Manna, I am a close friend of Claire's family. She's been hiding here ever since you started to follow her home. Well, that in itself is not a problem, but the problem is her father. Her father is a very strict man who wants only the best for his daughter, but he can be over the top at times, like what you saw before."

"You mean those men in black were sent to by her father?" Jill asked.

"Yes, if he knows that her daughter is surrounded by bad company at school, he'll shift her to another location. He was also reluctant to let Claire go to Spring Dale, but he finally allowed her to go. Since Claire has made such close bonds with you all, as she described it during our chats in the evenings, I don't want you to make her father angry by barging in their house to try and save Claire, else he'll send her off to another school again. So please, don't follow her home anymore, for her sake and for yours, to keep your friendship." Manna explained.

They all fell silent, they didn't knew that Claire was in that kind of situation, it was a miracle that she made bonds with them, now knowing that that bond was fragile that it could not let them meet each other anymore, which could happen anytime.

With a few moments of silence to think of what they should do now, the group agreed to Manna's plea and promised to not follow Claire home from then on.

**Claire's P.O.V**

_I don't believe this, did my dad already found out I was being followed? I sure hope he doesn't say anything bad about them._

We arrived at the mansion and the servants who 'fetched' me, literally, took their leave and I was also informed that my father wanted to see me, I took a deep breath to prepare for the worst and went into father's private room.

I knocked at the door, "Dad, it is I, your daughter Claire, may I come in?".

"Come in."

I walked into the room and saw dad sitting on his chair as usual.

"Why did you want to see for, dad?"

"Well, first off, I heard from a few sources that you were being followed by a group of people and I wanted to get you away from them."

_Here it is, now he'll forcibly ban me from being with my friends ever a-_

"I don't know who these people were, but I assure you that I shall put guards to protect you from any stalkers, I don't want you to be kidnapped, or worse. Just stay alert and be careful from now on."

"Wha- yes, I will, dad. I shall take my leave now."

Then I left the room. _Phew, talk about lucky! My father didn't know that those 'group of people' were actually my friends! But still, I have to tell them to stop following me tomorrow, or else what I fear may really come true._

**-****Next morning, Spring Dale-**

"Good morning everyone." I greeted, as I went in the class.

"Good morning, Claire." Mary greeted back.

"Uh.. Say Claire, we decided to not follow you anymore." Chelsea said.

"Huh? Why's that? Though I don't really mind it, but why?" I asked, in confusion.

"Well, you see, it seems that you really really don't want us to come over, and it was selfish of us to follow you every day." Chelsea said, looking down and fumbling with her fingers.

"Look who's talking, you were the one who forcibly made us follow Claire!" Jack exclaimed.

"I thought you guys also wanted to know where it is!" Chelsea answered back.

"Now now you two, don't fight." Jill said, as she stood between the two before they really did fight.

"Huh, and here I was thinking of-" I was cut off by Chelsea,

"What? You were going to invite us over?", with sparkle in her eyes.

"N-no, I was going to say, 'telling you to stop following me'."

She sulked and said, "What a bummer."

_I kinda felt bad for letting her hopes up, but I had no choice. But, whatever the reason for them to stop following me, I was glad they decided to do that._

Chelsea recovered from her sulking state quickly and exclaimed, "Well, since we can't go over to Claire's anymore, and our mid terms are in a few weeks, let's have a study session in Cliff's house after school!".

Cliff, who was sitting near us along with Vaughn, almost fell from his position at the sudden declaration.

"What! But why my house?" he asked.

"Well, its simple, its nearby." Chelsea and Jack said in unison.

"But but...", Cliff was unable to protest anymore.

"What's wrong Cliff, I haven't seen you this down from us coming over." Vaughn stated.

"Well... Uh, never mind." Cliff said, and slumped to the desk.

_Well, I don't think dad would mind me going over to a friend's to study._

**-After School-**

"School's finally over! Claire, you're coming over as well right?" Chelsea asked, turning around to face me.

"Yes, but let me tell my dad first, else he'd get angry for not telling him." I replied, then I took out my phone and sent a message to dad, telling him that I was going to a friend's house to study. "Let's go!"

We went off and while we were heading over to Cliff's, I walked beside him and asked, "Cliff? Why were you reluctant to let us come over?"

He scratched his face and said, "It's not like I was reluctant, just that Chelsea's declaration was out of notice, that's all."

"Hmm, yeah, I get the feeling, Chelsea does like to do things out of notice doesn't she?"

Then we both laughed, though that didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"Ooh~ what's this? Cliff's actually talking and laughing with a girl alone~" Jack teased.

"Wha- It's not like I've never done this with the others!" Cliff protested.

"But still, you were really unapproachable when you first enrolled here." Vaughn pointed out.

"Look who's talking, you were also unapproachable, with that invisible aura that said 'I don't want any company'." Chelsea said.

"Hey, that was a long time ago!" Vaughn stated.

"Though in a way, Vaughn's right about Cliff, even now, he's still quite shy around others whom he's not really accustomed yet. I wonder why he's so close to Claire already~" Jill teased.

"Hey, I can change too!" Cliff argued.

"Okay you guys, stop teasing him." I said, for some reason, I wanted to defend him.

"Aww~ Cliff's girlfriend is defending for him~" Jill teased.

"I am not his/her boyfriend/girlfriend!" Cliff and I said simultaneously, leaving the others to laugh at their new-found humor.

After a while, we reached Cliff's house, he opened the door and led us in. It was a simple apartment, with a living room, kitchen, a bedroom and the bathroom.

"It's really convenient for us that Cliff's house is nearby." Chelsea said.

"Convenient for us, the boys' side too! We barge in all the time!" Jack exclaimed, as he propped himself in one of the chairs.

"You have no shame saying that, do you?..." Cliff said, while glaring at Jack.

"Nope~" Jack replied, whistling away.

"Hey Cliff, what's that picture of? I haven't seen it before." Vaughn said, pointing towards a picture that was placed on top of the coffee table.

"Hm? I see a girl! Cliff! Are you cheating on someone!" Chelsea exclaimed, as she took the picture.

I wanted to have a look as well, hey, I'm curious too! So I walked over to Chelsea to have a closer look, but before I could do that Cliff pulled the picture away and said,

"No, I'm not cheating on someone! It's just a photo of me and my... Friend.", then he went to his bedroom, maybe to keep the photo somewhere else.

While we were waiting for Cliff to come out, the front door opened and someone came in and said,

"Hey Cliff, you home?"

_Hey wait I recognize that voice!_

"Hm? Oh it's just Skye" Jack said.

_I knew it! It IS Skye's voice! Why is he here, oh no, I hope he dosen't-_

"What's with that introduction, Jack? Besides what are you guys doing here?" Skye asked.

"We're here to have a study session!" Jill answered.

"Oh... Hmm..."

"Skye, what are you staring at our newest member, Claire so intensely for? Don't tell me you've fallen for her too! You're such a-" Chelsea was cut off.

"What are YOU doing here, pri-"

_Ah! He recognized me! Then again, it's not hard to spot me if I was standing with my backwards facing him the whole time! Better shut him up!_

"Ahh! Don't you dare say that word!" I exclaimed, as I covered his mouth with my hands. Then, without the others hearing, I whispered, "Don't call me THAT while they're around, or else." I threatened, then I let go of him.

"Okay, okay, but, you do know that your father is looking high and low for you, right?" he asked.

"He is? But I told him that I won't be long!"

"What's this? Claire, you know this womanizer?" Chelsea asked.

"Don't tell me, you two are childhood friends that have grown to lo-" Jill wailed, but was cut off by Skye saying,

"Don't let your imaginations get the better of you, Jill. We're not in love"

Jill breather out an air of relieve. _Don't tell me, does Jill like Skye? This is going to be fun~_

Then Cliff came out seemed to ask Vaughn what was happening.

"Then tell us, how do you two know each other?" Mary asked.

"Well, let's just say Skye's like a... An acquaintance." I answered.

After that was over we were finally going to start the study session when our family guards barged in the door. _Oh no, I was so preoccupied in answering how Skye and I know each other that I forgot about dad's order!_

"We're sorry princess, but it's the king's order." one of them said, then they hauled me up and took me out the house.

**Cliff's P.O.V**

"Hey! Let me go! Didn't I tell father already! Hey!" Claire exclaimed, then she and the group of men in black went out.

Then one of the men turned to Skye and said, "Skye, you have to come as well."

"Sure. What a pain.", then Skye left along with them.

We stared at disbelieve and shock, it was the second time already that Claire was dragged away like that.

"That's it! Although we promised Madam Manna, I can't take it anymore! If Claire's treated like this, I say we go and tell her father a piece of our minds!" Chelsea proposed, as she stood up from her seat.

"Heh, for once I agree with you, this is getting too far! Besides, I want to know why Skye obeyed their orders!" Jill agreed.

I was sitting and thinking of something, _if I did do THAT, then the consequences will be-_

"Cliff? What about you? We got to hurry, all of us are in to get Claire!" Jack asked.

_Well' I could ask them first._ I stood up and stared at them and asked them,

"If we do go, what are you going to do?"

"Of course, it's clear, we go and tell- no, persuade her father to not treat Claire like this!" Chelsea answered.

"Of course I know that, I meant how are you going to persuade him." I said.

Chelsea stayed for a bit, and the others we're now looking at me in confusion, then Chelsea answered,

"Well, I'll tell her father that we're her friends she's wanted for so long! And that he shouldn't take Claire, his daughter, away from us! It's not right! To pull his own daughter away from her friends!", she clenched her fists in anger.

"'Friends' you say, then let mew ask you one more thing, do you think of Claire as your friend? As one of you?" I asked, this was the last question I want to ask.

"Cliff what are you-" Vaughn said, then Chelsea answered me,

"Of course I think of her as my friend! In fact, all of us think of her as our dearest new friend! And friends help and comfort each other in times of their need, and right now, if we don't hurry, we'll never catch up to them! Claire needs our help right now!"

That was it, I got the answer I needed. Then I walked forward and said,

"Well, it seems you said the answer I wanted. Very well, follow me, I shall lead you to Claire's house."

**Cliffhanger again? Or is it? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to future chapters as well! I'm trying to cover a lot of chapters before I start school again, of which the date I'm not sure, if it was a normal day school, I'd update normally (unless I have writer's block) but since I'm going to be in a hostel, I won't be update for a long time so before that time comes, I'll do my best to update this story! Reviews are much appreciated as well!**


	5. The Regison mansion

**Hello again guys! Hope you're liking this story so far! This time, you'll see another new character and he trouble that awaits! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Harvest Moon!**

Chapter - 4 The Regison Mansion

Cliff's P.O.V

The others looked at me in shock when I said I'll lead them to Claire's house. Guess, it's natural, since I never mentioned about these things.

"Cliff, you knew where it was all along?!" Chelsea asked, she seemed really angry.

I didn't have time to explain, so I said, "It's a long story. Now hurry up, we're going to Claire's.", then they nodded their heads and we left.

After some time, we reached Claire's house, I looked over to the others, and, as I expected, their mouths were agape. Though it's true that Claire's house is an unbelievable sight, a mansion with a large compound, huge gates and fences and the gates were guarded by guards. I turned to them and said in a serious tone, "Guys, we're going to enter this mansion, and until we're alone with Claire, do refrain from talking out loud and touching things and most of all, be well-mannered. Her father is very strict to who her daughter makes friends with."

"Okay... I don't know how you know all this, but we'll do that." Jill said.

Then I went towards one of the guards, he stopped me and asked, "Hold, what business do you have here?"

"We are here to see the princess, we have some important business to attend with her." I answered.

Then he dialed some numbers and talked to the other person at the other line and he opened the gates and let us in.

As we went inside, I could see the others were awed at the surroundings, but I signaled them to pay attention and keep going. Then we reached the front door, which was opened by a maid, she led us in and said,

"Welcome to the Regison mansion. Please wait here, the princess is discussing some matter with the master and she will attend to you shortly."

Then she left us. I noticed Chelsea was fidgeting and Vaughn seemed like he wanted to ask me a few questions, Jack was trying to restrain himself to not go, or in his case, run off anywhere and look around the mansion. Jill and Mary were a bit calmer, but still had their nervous looks with them. Then after a bit, Claire came out from one of the rooms in the second floor and spotted us, she wore a pink dress that is decorated by lace around the arms and chest.

"Everyone, you came. Please, make yourselves comfortable.".

Her father also came out, he looked at us and asked Claire, "Who are these people?"

"Dad, these are my friends. They are my guests and if its alright, I shall escort them to my room. We have some important business to get to." Claire answered.

He hesitated for a bit before he agreed to Claire's requests.

"Follow me." Claire said.

We followed her as she led us to her room in the second floor. When we finally reached her room, she closed the door and breathed a sigh of relieve. Chelsea and Jack slumped to the floor, finally being able to be themselves again. Was it really that hard to restrain oneself?

"Whew, you guys can relax now." She said.

"Claire, how are you? We came to check on you!" Chelsea asked.

"Oh, I'm fine. Though its great that you could enter here, but didn't aunt Manna tell you all not to come?" Claire asked.

"Well, we got a bit angry and worried when they took you the second time. By the way, where's Skye?" Jill asked.

"Oh yeah, Skye.", Claire rang a bell by the door, then a maid came in.

"Yes, princess?"

"Please tell Skye to come to my room."

"Yes princess, though he is being held up by Lumina.", then the maid left.

"Great, Lumina's here." Claire stated, in an annoyed manner. "Anyway, Skye will arrive soon."

"I've been meaning to ask you this! Claire, why do they call you 'princess'? I though you said you were a William. Why are you in the Regison mansion instead? Why-", Chelsea bombarded Claire with questions.

_Good grief, hasn't she already figured out by now that Claire told a lie about her family name? _

Then Claire stopped Chelsea and her questions and said to us, "I'm sorry for lying that I was a William. I'm actually a Regison and decendant of King Regison the III. That's why they refer to me as 'princess'. I lied because I was finally going to a normal school, and I really wanted to have friends who treated me like a normal girl. It would've gone well, if my dad wasn't so over-protective."

"So you're saying that you're scared that we might treat you like a princess if we knew who you were?" Jill asked.

Claire nodded her head.

"Aw, you're so silly, Claire. We'd still treat you as one of us, even of we knew you were a princess!" Chelsea exclaimed, as she hugged Claire to comfort her.

"Although, being a princess means she could have whatever she wanted, right? That's so cool! Then I want-"

"Jack!", we scolded. He sometimes gets out of hand.

Then the doors opened and revealed Skye and a girl, probably Lumina that Claire mentioned, who was in a green dress that reached her feet. She then grabbed Skye as if to tell us that he's hers. Skye was in some sort of a butler outfit, only he wore it more carelessly.

Then Lumina said, "Aww, isn't that nice princess?"

"Jeff! Er.. Who's she?" Jill asked, as she pointed towards the girl.

"My my, you have no manners at all. Don't you know that you're not supposed to point at people who is higher up than you? And you call yourselves the princess's friends! Hah!" she mocked.

"Lumina, I like my friends just the way they are. What business do you have here anyway?" Claire asked, as she stood in front of her.

"Ism't it obvious? To spend a lovey-dovey time with my dear Skye!" Lumina said, as she grabbed Skye's arm more tightly, though Skye seemed like he didn't really enjoy it, which was a first as he was a ladies' man and loves to flirt on girls.

Skye sighed and said, "You mean spend a time of torture for me..."

"Aw, Skye, You're so funny!" Lumina laughed.

"And Jill ahs found a new love rival." Jack teased, followed by Jill glaring at him.

"What is this? You like my Skye too? Too bad, but he's in my command!" Lumina mocked, but Claire countered,

"Actually, he obeys MY command, not yours. He does work for me after all."

Lumina paused for a second before she continued, "Anyhow, there's no way a peasant girl like you would win the heart of my fear Skye. Ahahaha!"

"Don't mind me saying, but don't look down on me just because I'm a mere 'peasant' girl." Jill said, by now, there were glaring at each other with electricity running in between.

"Hmp, get ready to feel your heart break, because I'm going to your school. And princess, I'm watching you as well, I take my leave now." Laney stated, then she left.

"This is going to be tough, with Laney around, I practically won't be able to do anything!" Claire exclaimed.

"Tell me about it, as if following... No, 'clinging' onto me wasn't enough, now I have to put up with that in the school as well..." Skye continued.

"Wait, Claire, how did a womanizer like Skye, WORK for you?" Jack asked.

"Hm? Oh, Skye? I thought that instead of stealing from other people, he could earn the money for living expenses instead. Besides, his parents are-"

"'Princess', that's enough about me, they know the reason so that's enough." Skye intercepted.

"It must me nice to be your... I mean, that's great that you can earn money instead of stealing now!" Jill quickly corrected herself.

"Um, about Lumina, what should we do?" Mary asked, a bit timid as ever. _Hey, I'm only timid around other people I don't really know well!_

"Oh yeah, but, how could she possibly know where our secret base is!" Chelsea said.

"Yeah, we just have to be extra careful whenever we go." Vaughn agreed.

"Well, now that the whole shenanigan is over, and you guys know that I'm safe, you had better head back before my dad gets angry again. I'll see you off till the gates." Claire suggested.

We all agreed, it was getting late, then we went outside and to the gates.

"Again, thank you guys, for worrying about me and you went such lengths to see me." Claire said.

Chelsea smiled and said, "No big deal, we're your friends after all. Ehehe, before we came, I was thinking of 'telling' your dad about a thing or two about how he treated you, but I lost my nerve when we got here.", putting her head behind her head.

"That's alright, I'm glad you lost it, if you really did tell my dad what you were thinking of saying, he might just throw you out of the house, like in the past with one of my friend..."

We noticed Claire got quiet all of a sudden, "Claire? You okay? You're spacing out." I asked.

Then Claire got out of her trance and shook her head, "No, its nothing.".

"Anyway, I'm going back first slowpokes!" Jack said, then ran off.

"Me too! I still have to prepare dinner at home! Bye guys!", then Chelsea too ran off.

"Chelsea, wait for us! Bye Claire! Come on Mary, we got to go!" Jill said, then she and Mary went off as well.

"I'm heading back as well, Julia gets annoying whenever I'm late for dinner. You coming, Cliff?" Vaughn asked.

"Wait, before you both leave, how'd you guys find my house?" Claire questioned us.

Vaughn looked at me and answered, " Ask Cliff over here, he's the one who led us here. Well, I'll be going back then. See you.".

"Really? Cliff you knew where my house is? How?", Claire looked at me.

"Hmm.. It's along story, so I'll tell you tonight." I answered, as expected, Claire looked very confused.

"How? I don't have a-"

"Phones are not included. You'll see. See you tonight." I said, then I waved my hand and left. I can't wait to see the looks of her fact tonight.

**That's it for now, but don't worry, the next chapter will come out soon! And the new character is Lumina! Forgive me for portraying her as a somewhat 'evil' character in here! How will Cliff get to Claire during the night? Look forward to the next chapter as it will reveal a few secrets and pasts. Also, I stated Lumina nad Jill glaring as 'with electricity running in between', since I don't know any other way of saying it, so please tell me if you guys know a better way to say it. Reviews are welcome!**


	6. Our past

**Wow, two chapters in one day! It has got to be a record for me! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Reviews are very much welcome!**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Harvest Moon!**

Chapter 5 - Our past

**Claire's P.O.V**

_I __wonder how Cliff is going to tell me tonight. Coming here is out of the question as the guards won't let anyone pass after night-time, and he said that phones or any other means of communication is not needed. Guess I have to wait and see._

After dinner, I bid goodnight to my mum and dad and went to my room. I looked outside for a while in the balcony, as usual, gazing at the stars. After a while, I decided to go inside as it was starting to feel cold, but before I went inside, I heard something rustling towards the bushes near the brick walls. That piqued my interest and I bent down on the railings to get a closer look towards the bushes, then, out of nowhere, Cliff popped out! I fell back to the balcony as I was surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Cliff? What-? How-?", I couldn't piece together words anymore, how did he enter the estate without the guards noticing?

"Relax, I came in through the secret passage." he answered, as he smiled.

"But how could you know the secret passage? Only my childhood friend and I know where it is!" I said, it was true, no one, not even my parents nor our servants know about the existence of the secret passage.

His smile grew wider as he said, "Why shouldn't I know? We made that secret passage together remember?".

_Huh? Cliff was that childhood friend of mine?_ "You're kidding!"

"Nope, its true."

"Then why didn't you say so when we met at the school?"

"Sorry, but I really didn't want to draw unwanted attention."

"Unwanted attention?"

He looked at me with a confused look in his eyes, "Wait, you mean you don't know about our families' history?" he asked.

_Family history? My parents never talk about our history to me, except the fact that we're a descendant of the late Kings and Queens._ "What history?" I asked back.

"Wait there." he said, then he climbed a tree whose branch was near my room's balcony. Soon, he jumped down and we were face to face.

"About the Reisons and Alexanders." he said.

"No, I never heard my parents mention that before." I replied. What history did our families have?

Cliff leaned on the railings and said,

"I don't really know about it much myself, but from what my mother used to tell me, our families were once really close, but because of another family, we became enemies. My mother also said that we, the Alexanders, realized the lie that the interfering family made to break our ties, so we've been trying to rekindle our ties up till now.".

I never knew we had such a relationship going on. Why didn't my parents tell me about this?

"Then, back at that time when dad threw you out of the mansion, was it because he knew you were an Alexander?" I asked.

"Yes, your mother also knew, but she kept it a secret from your father. She told me to never mention my true family name towards your father, but I forgot and said I was an Alexander. Your father, out of rage, threw me out of the mansion and told me to never come here again." Cliff replied, as he sighed.

"I never knew about that." I said, I didn't know what to say, I was sad that he had to suffer because of my father hating his family, but also happy that we got to meet again. _That's it, I made up my mind, I'm going to do my best to make father like the Alexanders again!_ I fist pumped.

"Cliff, I want to rekindle our families' ties!" I exclaimed.

"By yourself? How?" he asked, a bit shocked at my statement.

"Well, I'll convince dad to try and make up with your family!"

"You do know that we've been tying to do that for a long time, and he won't budge." he stated.

I paused for a while, it was true that dad can be as stubborn as a mule, and if I do mention about him and his family if I ever talk to him about this, he'd quickly transfer me to another school so I can't be near him. Then I remembered, the interfering family!

"Then Cliff, do you perhaps know the family that broke the Regisons and Alexanders tie?" I asked.

"Hm... I'm not too sure now, but I think they were the Saibaras." he said, putting a finger on his chin as he thought about it.

"The Saibaras... Okay, I'll ask my mother tomorrow! You said my mother knew about you and that sh kept it a secret from dad, that means she's alright with your family!" I pointed out.

"That's a good idea, just make sure your dad doesn't find out." he said.

"I'll be careful!" I reassured, he smiled at me.

"Good. It's getting late, and princesses need their beauty sleep, so I say goodbye for now. See you at school tomorrow." he said, then hoped down.

"Hey, you know that I hate to be called that by you from way back!" I exclaimed, as I bent down to glare at him. He gave me a mischievous smile as he waved me goodbye and went towards the secret passage. Well, I guess I can forgive him, just this once.

**-The next day, Regison mansion-**

"Good morning mum, did dad went for work already?" I asked mum, as I went towards the dining table.

"Yes, he just left a while ago. Good morning to you as well." mum answered.

"Say, mum, can we talk for a minute?"

"Of course, it's rare for you to suggest talking alone."

"Well, you see, you know about our family history with the Alexanders-"

"How did you know about that?" mum asked, as she looked at me in shock.

"Uh, do you remember the boy I used to come home with?"

"Yes, I do."

"He's Cliff, and he's an Alexander, you also know it. He came last night and told me about it."

"So, you finally got to meet him again." mum said, having a happy face.

I smiled, "Yeah, I'm really happy too! Back to the topic, he said that the family that broke out ties with the Alexanders were the Saibaras, so I was wondering if you know where these Saibaras are, or what they did for our families to be like this.", I looked at mum expectantly, hoping that she'd knew what happened.

Mum sighed and shook her head and said, "I'm really sorry, but I don't know what happened, nor who they are to help you, since I'm guessing, you're trying to fix our relationship.".

I made a sigh of defeat, then said, "That's okay, I'm sure one of my friends know at least one of the members of that family. I'll be going now, bye!", I waved my hand as I exit the dining room.

My mum waved goodbye, "Take care!".

**-Spring Dale School-**

"Good morning guys!" I greeted, as usual.

"Good morning!" Chelsea greeted back.

I spotted Cliff and went towards him and whispered,

"Cliff, do you think we should tell the others about our families? They might help." I suggested.

He stayed silent for a while before agreeing to my request.

Then I went over to the others, who were busy talking to each other. I caught their attention and I said,

"Guys, there's something I-... We want to tell you.", as I looked over to Cliff.

"Wait, don't tell me, you two are dating?! Kyaaaa!" Chelsea exclaimed, as she ran over to hug me.

"Cliff! I never knew you had it in you!" Jack exclaimed, as he went towards Cliff and put an arm around his shoulder.

Vaughn smirked, and Mary and Jill cheered.

"STOP! No, that's not what we want to tell you!" I shouted, that was the first time I shouted in years!

"Really? Why didn't you say so! Got our hopes up for nothing!" Chelsea pouted.

"We-", but before I could say anything more, the teacher came inside the class, depicting that it was the start of the first period. We went to our respective seats and wished the teacher good morning.

"Good morning, students. Today, you will have a new classmate, she transferred here from another school, I hope you all get along well!"

_Oh no, I hope its not-_

The doors opened and Lumina came inside. She smiled and introduced herself,

"I'm Lumina Romana, a pleasure to be your acquaintance!".

**Phew, I know, I know, its a short chapter, but things will get interesting from here on, so bear with me. I hope you guys continue to read this story of mine, and I'll do my best to upload new chapters for you all to read! See ya!**


	7. Lumina

**Hello again! Finally! I know, it took me a long time to update this, but I was at hostel and truthfully, I got a writer's block and I almost gave up on continuing this story altogether, but a review from Ryuusei got me in high sprits again, and it gave me new found motivation to continue this story! Thank you very much, Ryuusei! Now, onwards to the 6****th**** chapter! **

**Disclaimer : I do not own Harvest Moon!**

Chapter 6 – Lumina

**Claire's P.O.V**

"I'm Lumina Romana, a pleasure to be your acquaintance!".

She looked at me and Cliff with that 'I-know-it-all' look on her face, I really don't get along with her at all do I…

"Well Lumina, you can take the empty seat that's at the back." the teacher said.

Then, Chelsea passed me a note saying, 'Secret Base group meeting during the short break. Get ready! ', wait, get ready? What does she mean by that?

**-Short Break-**

**Normal P.O.V**

Chelsea suddenly got up, and then motioned the other to follow her while checking if Lumina was watching, she was busy chatting with the girls around her. Jill who was nearby Skye, who had no idea about the secret meeting, grabbed his arm, taking his attention, and pulled him out with her.

"Come on! Meeting!" Jill said as she pulled Skye along.

"Wha-!"

"Hurry up you guys! We need to reach the base ASAP!" ordered Chelsea, running way ahead of the others.

Meanwhile Lumina noticed the commotion, 'Did that Jill just kidnap MY Skye?!' she thought. She got up and told the others around her, "Sorry, I suddenly remembered that I have something to attend to, excuse me.", then she also exited the class, half running.

"Hurry you guys!" Chelsea shouted, she was already running up the stairs.

"Just what is going on?! " Skye exclaimed, he was still being dragged by Jill.

Claire was a little slower than the rest, but still able to keep up with them. But she tripped on someone's foot along the way and was about to fall over, when Cliff's hand came and prevented her from falling.

"Cliff!"

"That was close, now come on!" Cliff said, as he pulled Claire along.

Soon, they were also running up the stairs and out of view from Lumina, who was following behind. Lumina didn't have the chance to see where they disappeared as the number of students in the corridor prevented her from seeing far.

"Darn, where'd they go?"

-Secret Base-

"T-that was close.." Claire said, panting.

"Too close for comfort, but preferably, Lumina wasn't able to see where we ran off to in time, right?" Cliff reassured.

"Okay, tell me why I was dragged all the way here." Skye asked.

"I couldn't… I mean WE couldn't leave you all alone in the classromm with HER there!" Jill exclaimed.

"Uh-huh…"

"Besides, we have something important to discuss. Now, if you may, Claire." Chelsea announced.

Claire nodded and told everyone what Cliff and her talked about the other night, about their families once having close ties, which was broken by the Saibara family, how the Alexanders wanted to regain their close ties, how the Regisons turned a blind eye on the Alexanders' request and their current situation.

"So, you're telling us to help you search for these Saibara people and ask what really happened?" Chelsea asked.

"Yes, I'm begging you to help us restore the once close ties our families had. Please." Claire pleaded.

"Hmm… Alright, we'll help you! We can never turn down a friend in need, right guys?" Chelsea replied, then turned to the others.

"Of course, a friend in need is a friend indeed!" Jill exclaimed.

"What are friends for? Of course we'll help." Mary said.

"Say, Skye, didn't we know of a person in our circle outside of school that was a Saibara?" Jack asked.

"Huh? I don't know, maybe. I haven't really paid attention to their names." Skye replied.

"Really? You do? Then Jack, can you still remember the name of that person?" Cliff asked.

Jack put his hands in his chin to think for a moment.

"Hmm… There are a lot of people in our circle, so I can't really recall which one was it, and I can't remember where he lives either." Jack replied.

"That's too bad. But we could search the whole neighborhood!" Chelsea exclaimed, as she snapped her fingers.

"Are you serious! There are a lot of streets here in Flower Valley and there are too less of us to do that!" Vaughn exclaimed, seemingly hoping that Chelsea was joking when she said that.

"No, I am serious. We can do anything if we try, that's my motto! We'll just split up the work and we'll be done in a few days!" Chelsea replied, making a peace sign.

"Ohoho, so that's your little idea."

"That voice-!" Skye exclaimed.

Everyone turned to the door, it opened to reveal Lumina.

"Lumina! What are- How did you find this place?" Chelsea asked.

"I have my ways and my connections." Lumina answered. She stepped in the room. "I've heard the whole story, and it dawned onto me that those Saibara people you guys will be looking for, are actually friends of mine!"

"Then, could you-", Jill was cut off.

" 'Help us'? I'm sorry, I don't do 'helping commoners' and stuff like that. Besides, I have to protect what Uncle Regison have been doing all this time, prevent the restoration of the Regison and Alexanders' ties." Lumina sneered.

"How can you say that? Don't you have any pity?" Jack asked.

"Pity? Ah, that word, I'm sorry, I don't recall feeling any pity for anyone during my entire life." Lumina laughed.

"Can you go out now?" Vaughn said, totally irritated by Lumina's character. The others looked at him in shock to what Vaughn just said.

"Leave? Of course, but this won't be the end of the disturbances for you all, in fact, it's only the beginning. Oh, you said something about looking for the Saibaras, right? Well then, here's a little info, I'm going to tell them to hide their identity so looking for them street by street will be very hard. You might have seen them, but they might tell a lie and deceive you lot to turn you in the wrong direction. That's all, tata~", and with that Lumina left.

"… It's hopeless now…" Claire said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Cliff asked.

"I mean, if what Lumina said is true, then we won't have any chances for finding the Saibaras at this rate."

"Hey, don't let that get you down! Of course, finding them might be a little- no, not a little, very hard, we'll just keep on looking for them until we find them!" Chelsea reassured.

That got Claire to raise her hopes a little.

"Thanks."

"No biggie."

"Anyway, when do we start searching?" Jill asked.

"Is everyone free today evening?" Chelsea asked.

"Yes." They all replied.

"Then how about starting this evening! We'll split up in groups of…", Chelsea counted the number of people present, "In groups of two!"

"Um… Chelsea, I don't think I can help you guys. I know I'm the one who requested for your help, but my father will get angry if I don't arrive home on time." Claire said, meekly.

"Oh, I overlooked your situation! Then one group can have three persons in it. It will make the job more easier for that group." Chelsea said, lightly punching her head. "Is everyone alright with that?"

"All fine with me." Jill replied.

"Me too, I'll just explain the situation to my parents if they ever ask." Mary also said.

Then one by one, they agreed to the suggestion.

"Thank you for helping me, everyone. I promise I'll help you guys if there is anything I can help you all with." Claire said, tears forming in her eyes out of happiness.

"Hey, don't cry now. Save your tears for when we finish this task." Cliff said, as he patted her back.

**Author's reply**

**Ryuusei : I'm glad I exceeded your expectations of Mizo by my story. And with Gray's grandfather, I just think of it as people refer to him as his family name Saibara, instead of his own name. I love CliffxClaire too! Thanks for your encouragement and support, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy my stories! ^^**


	8. The search begins!

**Hello again everyone! A new chapter after a day! This is an accomplishment! Anyway, I hope you liked the previous chapter. Now, onwards to the 7****th**** chapter! Also, Merry Christmas everyone!**

Chapter 7 – The search begins!

**Normal P.O.V**

**-After School-**

"Alright guys! School's over and our search begins! Let's start!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"Uh, Chelsea? One question, who's going with who?" Mary asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that. Okay, we'll go like this, Vaughn and I will go as one team, since we're childhood friends."

"That's the reason?" they all thought in their minds.

"Jill and Mary will go together, and the remaining three boys, Cliff, Jack and Skye will go together!" Chelsea continued.

"Well, guess that's alright. Vaughn does get along with Chelsea best." Jack said.

"What did you say?" Vaughn asked, glaring at Jack.

"Nothing, nothing! You take things way too seriously!" Jack replied, laughing as he patted Vaughn's back, earning another glare from the amethyst-eyed boy.

"Now that we decided on who goes with who. Let's begin! See you again tomorrow, Claire! Come on Vaughn! We're wasting daylight!", with that, Claire pulled Vaughn to the southern street called Sunny Street.

The Flower Valley is composed of four streets in total that connects to one another in various parts. The school, Spring Dale, is at the heart of the kingdom and the four streets all meet at the school. From there, the southern street is 'Sunny Street', the eastern Street is the 'Twin Street', the western street is 'Forget-Me-Not Street' and the northern street is called 'Mineral Street'.

"Then we'll go to the western street." Jill said, then went off with Mary as they waved goodbye to Claire.

"Then we'll go to the eastern street." Jack said.

"Sorry we can't go and accompany you back home along Mineral Street." Cliff said, looking a little regretful.

"No, no, that's okay. I'm fine to go home by myself. Besides, you're all helping me, and yourself, to look for the Saibaras, so that's more than enough show of friendship for me." Claire said, waving her hands. "Well, I'll see you all again tomorrow, good luck on your search.", then she waved to them and went along home.

"Alright, now that we're done with your lovey-dovey 'goodbyes', let's go!" Jack exclaimed.

"W-we're not lovey-dovey!" Cliff retorted, blushing as he did.

**-Sunny Street-**

"Okay Vaughn, let's begin our search from the first door we see!" Chelsea declared, walking to one of the first doors on the street.

"Hold it! Chelsea, you do know that both our houses are the first on this street, right? That one's yours and my home is just opposite to yours, so there's no way we'd be Saibaras." Vaughn stated, pointing to the two houses.

"Oops, it totally slipped my mind, hehe. Okay then, onwards to the next house!", Chelsea punched her head lightly, then ran towards the next house. Vaughn followed and went towards another house.

"Wait, Vaughn! Don't tell me you're going to ask all by yourself?" Chelsea asked.

"Well, yes. I am." Vaughn answered.

"No you don't! I've known you since we were kids and I know that your experience of socializing with people is very bad. So if I let you do the asking yourself, then won't get any leads! You'd break your sentences midway, leaving the people confused and then finally slam the door shut against you! I can't let that happen!" Chelsea exclaimed, waving her hands frantically.

"Uh, you know, I don't think they'd slam the door right in front of me." Vaughn stated, but gave in to Chelsea's whine anyway.

**-Forget-Me-Not Street-**

"Alright Mary, should we split up the work? I think it'd be faster if we did that." Jill suggested. Mary nodded and Jill went towards one of the first few houses in the street.

After a while, Jill looked over to check on Mary, but found her standing in front of the same door she was standing at before Jill went to talk with the residents of the first house.

"Mary, have you already talked to the residents here?"

"N-no… I'm preparing myself first!"

"'Preparing' yourself? How? "

"Um. On how to ask the people here if they're the people we're looking for. I'm scared that I might jumble my words and leave them confused to my statement."

"Mary, just say it like this, 'Excuse me, I want to ask you if you and your family are a Saibara or not', like that."

"O-okay. Let me try.", knocks on the door.

A lady answered the door and asked, "Yes? May I help you?"

"U-um. I-I was wondering if… If you know anything about the Saibaras!", Mary closed her eyes in embarrassment.

"Huh?", the lady looked puzzled.

"S-she means, are you and your family Saibaras? We just wanted to know.", Jill quickly covered for Mary.

"Saibaras? No, we're not."

"I see, thank you." Jill said, then bowed apology and left with Mary.

"I'm very sorry. I'm really embarrassed when talking to strangers." Mary said, looking down in failure.

"Well, there's always a first of everything. You can do better than this, I know it! Think of this as a way to help you talk more casually with strangers. A training perhaps."

"Okay, I'll do my best."

"That's good. Don't worry if you ever make a mistake or jumble up your words, I'll cover for you."

"Thank you, Jill."

**-Twin Street-**

Jack stopped midway at the start of the street.

"Jack? What's wrong?" Skye asked.

Jack took a deep breath and shouted, "I S ANYONE IN THIS STREET A SAIBARA?!", Skye and Cliff hold their ears.

"Jack you idiot! What was that for! You'll make an enemy of the whole street by causing a ruckus at this rate!" Skye exclaimed.

"I thought someone here would report themselves, instead of having to go door by door to ask." Jack answered.

"Who, in the right mind, would do that if you impolitely shout like that?" Skye scolded.

"Calm down, you two. But Skye's correct, Jack. It won't do us good if you shout like that. Since there's three of us, we'll split up and ask the residents here. That way we'll cover more houses than the rest in one day." Cliff suggested. Jack and Skye agreed then went separate ways.

Meanwhile, watching them in the shadows was Lumina. She spied on them to make sure they won't find the Saibaras.

"You poor people. I clearly stated that I'm going to keep them hidden, yet you still try to find them. You all have made an enemy out of me, and that is the wrong choice. Even your silly plan of trying to unite the Regisons and Alexanders again will fail. Because I'll be in your every way, preventing you all from taking a step. Fufufu."


	9. The first hindrance of Lumina

**Hello again! Had a fun day today? Anyway, here's a new chapter for you all! I hope you all like this story so far! Spoiler alert: There's going to be ups and downs for everyone from here on. Anyway, onwards to the 8****th**** chapter!**

Chapter 8 – The first hindrance of Lumina

**-The next day, Secret Base-**

**Claire's P.O.V**

We gathered at the Secret Base as always. The others reported their progress in yesterday's search.

"Yesterday's search at Sunny Street is not producing any leads yet. Besides, we've only just reached like one-fifth of the whole population." Chelsea reported.

"You're kidding, that's so slow!" Jack jeered.

"Because Chelsea here suggested that she do all the interrogations, stating that I wouldn't make any progress." Vaughn said, with a somewhat angry tone.

"Hey, you all know of Vaughn's communication skills!" Chelsea retorted.

"Then again, it is true that Vaughn's level of socializing is really low." Skye commented.

"See Vaughn? Everyone agrees my cause!"

"Hmp!", Vaughn turned away.

"Then how about the others, how did your search go?" Chelsea asked.

"Ours' no good either. We're still in he middle of teaching Mary to talk more casually with strangers, so we only covered as much as Chelsea's team." Jill said.

"I'm very sorry about that." Mary apologized.

"That's okay, no need to hurry!" I said. Mary seemed so apologetic that she wasn't much help for Jill, so I needed to cheer her up.

"Yeah, like Claire said, no need to rush it." Cliff agreed.

"Then how about your team, Cliff?" I asked.

"Haha, our team covered two-fifth of the whole street in one day! How's that! Hah!" Jack said, putting up an air of haughtiness.

"That's because there's three of you!" Chelsea exclaimed, then she went quiet for a while. I wonder what's she thinking, then she suddenly exclaimed, "That's it! Today the Twin Street team will search with only two members!"

"What! No fair!" Jack exclaimed in discontent.

"What? Your team's the only one that reached two-fifth the population in the three streets we're covering. So it's only natural that one of the members help the other two now!" Chelsea said.

"And we were so close to finishing first and laugh at the losers!" Jack exclaimed.

"You think this is a game?" Jill asked, sweat-dropping at Jack's statement.

"Then I'll help the Forget-Me-Not team today." Skye suggested.

We all looked at Skye in confusion. "What? Can't I be the one to help them?"

"No, it's just that, I never knew you were one to lend a helping hand unless forced to." I said, I could never see Skye willingly give a helping to anyone before.

"Just because I never did it before, doesn't mean I never have to." Skye retorted.

"Then today, the Forget-Me-Not team will have help from Skye. Tomorrow, you will help the Sunny team!" Chelsea declared.

"Don't want to." Skye answered.

"What! You good-for-nothing womanizer!"

_Wait a minute, Skye personally gave himself to help the Forget-Me-Not team, but said he didn't want to help the Sunny team. Is it that he doesn't like Vaughn or… Is it that he has a vrush on one of the two girls. Oh my, this is interesting!_

Two days later, the three teams finished covering a lot more than the first day, but they still have many houses to cover before they start their search at Mineral Street. In order to lighten the stress of searching the Saibaras, Chelsea came up with a game we could play during the lunch break at school. Wonder what it is.

"Alright, we're so stressed with finding the Saibaras that we need to lighten up!" Chelsea declared.

"We're not really stressed." Vaughn commented, earning a huff from the chestnut coloured girl.

"Whatever, let's play a game! To be more precise, a punishment game!" Chelsea continued.

"A punishment game?" Jill asked.

"You got that right! A punishment game! Loser has to do what the winners bid. It's kinda like a 'truth or dare', only, without the truth part." Chelsea explained.

"That's sounds exciting! Let's do it!" Jack cheered.

"But, how are we going to decide on the losers?" I asked.

"Well, we'll have a rock-paper-scissors mini tournament, then we'll decide the winners and losers… Since there's eight of us, boys and girls will play separately, and we'll decide the two losers from there." Chelsea said.

"Wait, there's going to be two losers?" Cliff asked.

"That makes it more interesting, besides I already have a 'punishment' in mind, so everyone be prepared. I won't show pity no matter who the losers are, even myself."

"Enough chit-chat! Let's start the tournament already!" Jack exclaimed.

We started this mini 'rock-paper-scissor' tournament, and I lost against the three in a short while. I'm really bad at this aren't I. We looked over to the boys side, it was a heated match between Skye and Cliff. They were always in a tie and finally-!

**Cliff's P.O.V**

It's a showdown between me and Skye now, Vaughn was the first to win, then Jack. The girl's side seems to have finished. We couldn't afford to lose this, with what Chelsea said, she already had a punishment in mind. Skye and I kept tie-ing, showing the same hand-signs for a while. Then, the seemingly last match started!

*rock, paper, scissors!*

…I… I lost, paper to scissors…

"Skye won! Too bad Cliff, you did hang in there though!" Jack commented.

"Oh well." I said, standing up, "What's the dare, Chelsea?"

"I'm so glad you lost! Because Claire here lost as well!" Chelsea exclaimed, shoving Claire towards me.

_This can't be good…_

"Now, my punishment for the losers is… I did say punishment, but its more like a dare. Ahem, my 'punishment' for you two is to play the pocky game!" Chelsea declared.

I froze the moment she said that, I looked over to Claire, and she doesn't have a clue as to what that game is.

"Um, what kind of game is that?" Claire asked.

"You mean you haven't heard of it? Well then, see this chocolate, biscuit-like cylinder stick?" Chelsea asked, showing a pocky stick.

"Yes?.."

"You take one end of this biscuit in your mouth, and Cliff here, will take the other end of the biscuit in his mouth. You two will then proceed to bite the biscuit off without letting it go, until…"

"*gulp* until?"

"Until your lips meet!" Chelsea declared.

Claire took a moment to process the whole explanation, then her face flushed a deep red. She must've just understood the whole game.

"C-C-Chelsea, can't we do another game?" Claire asked, in terror.

"No can do my dear Claire. Like I said, I won't show any mercy whoever the first losers are, even me. You'll have to do it."

Chelsea handed the pocky stick over to Claire. Claire reluctantly grabbed the pocky stick. Then turned to me, cheeks still red. This is bad, she's making me blush too. _So cute!_

"Come on! Kiss, kiss, kiss!" Jack encored.

I looked at Claire, and she had a dark look in her face.

"Say Skye? Do we have and ropes and cloth here?" Claire asked.

"Well, this was originally a storeroom, so I suppose there are. Let me see, here they are. What do you need them for?" Skye asked, as he handed the ropes and cloth.

"To silence a certain someone." Claire answered. She took the ropes and cloth and started to walk towards Jack.

"W-wait Claire, can't we talk this over?" Jack asked, fear in his face. Truth be told, this is the first time I've seen Claire act like this. Now I know that she can be scary at times.

"No can do." Claire answered, then she grabbed Jack.

"Hey! Let go! I'm sorry! I- mppph!"

"There, we can… start now." Claire said, turning towards me again, the blush resurfacing in her cheeks again.

Jack was tied up by the ropes and his mouth was also covered in the cloth. She silenced him alright.

Claire took the pocky stick in her mouth and leaned towards me, I took the other end with my mouth, as per the rules of the game. Then we slowly started to bite off the choco stick. We were soon face to face, our lips almost touching, one bite more from one of us and we'd really be touching lips. But Claire was too embarrassed, so she broke off the stick, not that I felt sad or anything. It'd be too embarrassing for me too, if we did touch lips.

"Aw, Claire, why'd you break the line!" Claire exclaimed.

"Come on Chelsea, she did her best." Jill said, then Chelsea accepted our dare.

**Claire's P.O.V**

_That was so embarrassing! We, we almost kissed! I almost kissed my first and only crush! We were so close! But, I had to bite off the stick, I was too embarrassed to look into his eyes any longer! If I did stay on longer, I'd probably lose it. And by that, I meant as having a mental breakdown._

Soon, the bell rang and we returned back to class. Then Lumina stood up a bit crouching, and said,

"Sir, may I please go home? I have a bad stomach ache."

"Well, yes you can. But can you return home by yourself? Is your house far? Do you need anyone to accompany you home?" the teacher asked.

"YE-… I mean, may Sk-"

"Teacher, I know Lumina and her house is near here. So I think she can go home by herself, right Lumina?" Jill said, standing up.

"Is that so?" the teacher asked Lumina.

"… Yes, I can go home by myself." Lumina answered, then proceeded to go out of he classroom holding her stomach all the way.

"Is it alright for you to say that, Jill?" I heard Chelsea say that to Jill, whispering.

"Who cares about her? She deserves it anyway." Jill answered, huffing.

_Lumina went home, did she suddenly had a stomach ache? But her reaction when the teacher asked if she wanted someone to accompany her was strange… I have a bad feeling about this._

**-After School-**

"Cliff, I'm heading off early. I have a bad feeling since the afternoon classes started." I said.

"You mean Lumina?" he asked.

"Yes, I can't get her out of my mind. Knowing her, she might be up to something again. But I hope I'm wrong. But I have a request, come to my place in the night.

"Sure, just in case you're right, right?"

"Yes, well, I'll see you tonight then. Bye!", then I ran off.

**Normal P.O.V**

"Having a date in the night?" Skye asked.

Cliff blushed and quickly replied, "N-no! That's not what it is! Besides, you were eavesdropping?!"

"Hey, couldn't help it, besides, I have a bad feeling about Lumina too." Skye answered and went out.

**-Regison Mansion-**

Claire reached home and was greeted by one of the servants of the house,

"Welcome back, Princess. The King wish to see you."

"I knew it. Tell him, I'll come."

"As you wish.", then the servant went to the King's room.

Claire followed, then entered her father's work room. She saw Lumina sitting in one of the sofas in the room, the servant then declared Claire's arrival, then went out.

"Did you ask for me, father?"

"Yes, actually, I want to make you clear on one thing."

"And that is…?"

"Lumina came here and showed me something. I feared I would see someday."

Lumina went over to Claire and showed her a photo, on looking at it, she realized that it was a photo of her and Cliff playing that pocky game earlier that day. It seems it as taken in a somewhat high angle and a bit tilted to the side, so it looked like the two were kissing.

"T-this is-"

"No excuses, Claire Regison! I never thought you would do this kind of thing. I though I raised you up well! Maybe it is the influence of your so-called friends. I wouldn't have known if Lumina didn't show me this like a good daughter of a high-class should. From now on, I forbid you from going to school. Since enrollments to a new school is not possible this time of year, you'll have to study at home. But, if you still want to go to this school, then you'll have to stick with Lumina all the time, I can't leave you in the hands of those kids anymore, uncivilized people is what they are! So, what is your decision?" Claire's father roared.

Claire stayed silent and clenched her fists, then she said,

"I will not go to school, if I need to stay with HER. I'd rather stay here and study by myself than stay with her at school!"

"How dare you speak to Lumina like that! You certainly changed since staying with those commoners!" Claire's father shouted.

"Don't call them commoners! To me they're my precious friends! We would also be 'commoners' if our ancestors were not the kings and queens anyway!" Claire shouted back.

"That's it! I wanted to show you some pity, but I guess it can't be helped. You've been tainted too much by bad manners, you'll be locked up in your room, and your food will be delivered to you. You will never step out of your room again unless you mend your ways! Now go!" her father ordered.

Claire left, tears filling her face, but tried to keep them at bay. Lumina snickered at Claire then turned to Claire's father.

"Perhaps I was too harsh on her." He said, regretting his actions.

"You were not being harsh, Uncle Regison. You were merely lecturing her towards the right path."

"Yes, you're right. If only my daughter was as well mannered as you. Life would have been easier. You have my thanks."

"No Uncle Regison. I should be thanking you. We wouldn't be in this position if you hadn't helped my father then. So this is as a show of gratitude."

"Thank you, and may I ask, please continue to watch over my daughter."

"As you wish, Uncle Regison. Now, I shall take my leave,"

On her way out of the mansion, she saw Skye.

"Skye!~ You came!"

"Lumina, what are you doing here? I thought you were-"

"Aw, were you worried about me? Actually, I lied about my stomach ache." She said, cling to him.

"Let go of me you crazy woman!" Skye exclaimed, trying to shake her off.

"Aw, no need to be shy, but I'm in a hurry, so I'll let you go, for now. Oh, and just between you and me, Claire won't be coming to school from now on~"

"What? What happened?"

"That's classified information, but I might be willing to tell you, if you're a good boy. Anyway, ta-ta!"

"Tch!"

**Now wasn't that interesting? What's going to happen to Claire from now on? Will Lumina continue to cause more sufferings for the others? Will Claire ever see her friends again? Find out on the next chapter! Looking forward to see you all next time!**


	10. the second hindrance of Lumina

**Hello all! I took a day off, but here's a new update! I've finally reached the 10****th**** chapter, counting the prologue chapter! A great accomplishment! A long chapter for you all! Now, onwards to the 9****th**** chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter 9 – The second hindrance of Lumina

**-That night-**

**Claire's P.O.V**

_As my father said, or to be more precise, demanded, I'm confined to my room. This is going to be very boring! The maid came in and served me dinner, she waited for me to finish, then took out the eaten dished, leaving me alone in my room. After an hour or so passed, I heard a light knock at my balcony door. I turned around to see Cliff standing there. Delighted, I quickly went and opened the door for him, but made sure to keep as quiet as possible, else my father or servants might find out._

"Hey there, am I late?" he asked.

"No, I so glad you came. Though, I was the one who told you to come. Do you remember what I said today?"

"About Lumina?"

"Yes, as I feared, the bad feeling I had was true, and now I can't go to school anymore."

"What? Why?!"

"Shh! I can't explain all the details, here (I handed him a letter). This letter contains all the information you and the others will ask for. And, it seems we won't be seeing each other much now, the others too, huh." I said, looking downcast.

"… Hey, don't make that face. I can always visit you every night."

"Oh no, it'd be too troublesome for you!"

"Then once every two weeks?"

"Cliff-!"

"It's alright! I'm up for it anyway. Besides, you might want to hear from the others as well."

"Sigh, if you insist.", I smiled. He's being so considerate as usual.

"Thank you. Anyway, I'll take my leave, for now. I'll hand this letter to the others. See you in two weeks!" he said, then he disappeared down the balcony.

_I sure hope everything will go well with the others at least._

**Normal P.O.V**

**-The next day, Secret Base-**

"So, what did you want to talk to us about?" Vaughn asked Cliff.

"Is this about Claire?" Chelsea enquired.

"Yes, last night, I visited her, and she told me to give this to you." Cliff answered.

"A letter? More importantly, you went there again? Cliff, you're becoming so bold!" Chelsea teased.

"It's not like that! S-she told me to come, that's all!" Cliff retorted, slightly blushing.

"Yeah, yeah. Well then, let's see what this letter says. Hmm…", Chelsea began to read out the letter.

"_To my dear friends of the Secret Base. I am writing this to tell you some bad news. It seems we were being spied on by Lumina through a spy camera and the events of the game we held yesterday were taken on camera. Lumina showed a picture of me and Cliff playing that game and she had shown it to my father. He became so furious that he banned me from going to school. I am very sorry that I won't be able to assist you on your search for a while. Do forgive me. And may I ask for a selfish request? I really want you all to continue the search, even if I'm not there. Though I won't be surprised if you all stop the search, I'm such a bad and useless friend after all. From, Claire."_

"Spied on?!" Jack exclaimed.

"Hey! I fount it! The spy cam! It was hidden right under our noses all this time!" Skye exclaimed, taking out the camera from a pile of carbon boxes in the upper shelf.

"Fufufu, it seems you've finally found the camera I've hidden in your room."

"That voice-!" Jill said.

The door opened, "Yes, you are right. It is I, Lumina! But you discovered that a step too late! Claire's already under the protection of her father anyway!" Lumina stated.

"You! Why would you do such a thing!?" Chelsea shouted.

"Haven't I said this before? I'm only helping Uncle Regison keep his daughter at bay." Lumina answered.

"But helping him like this and doing this to Claire is-!" Jill was cut off.

" 'Unforgivable'?, 'Cruel'?, 'not right'?. Call it what you may. You don't understand how rich people raise their children anyway. For a commoner like you, this might seem wrong. But for us, this is something of an everyday occurrence. The rich were never meant to mingle with the common folks anyway."

"Lumina, I think you've said enough." Skye said.

"Oh! My dear Skye, you just don't understand, do you? No matter, I'll have to force you to understand someday. That the rich can do so much more, than the commoners!" Lumina exclaimed, then left the room, but a question was bugging her head, 'how did they get that letter from Claire? I have to find out!'

"Hah! Whatever! She may have taken the first step! But we won't stop with our search! Am I right?" Chelsea asked.

"You bet we aren't! We wont be stopped in our tracks by her! Not one bit!" Jill agreed, having a natural hatred for the girl, Lumina.

The others too agreed Chelsea's declaration, and resolved to find the Saibaras no matter what.

**-One week later-**

**Claire's P.O.V**

_Just another week, then Cliff will come again, I can't wait! Father kept true to his word, I never once left my room. Even for breakfast, lunch, dinner and sometimes supper, never. I also study by myself, when I have nothing to do. Being in this room all alone is not half-bad. But I do miss my friends at school_.

It's already night time, and I am preparing to go to bed. Suddenly, there came a light knock on my balcony door. _That's strange_, I thought as I looked over.

"! Cliff!?", I ran over to the door, letting him in.

"Hey there, princess!"

"I told you not to call me that, geez! But, what brings you here? You're not supposed to come until next week!"

"Yeah, well. The others wanted me to inform you about something."

"About what?"

"We finished searching the three streets and-"

"And?"

"We didn't find the Saibaras at all…"

"I see.."

"But, to take a load off our backs for a while, Chelsea and the others proposed a trip. A hiking trip, to be more precise. Tomorrow's a holiday after all"

"That sounds fun. Wish I could go as well."

"We,, that's what I came here for. The others, including me, wants you to come as well."

"Huh? But Cliff, I'm not able to get out from my room, remember? And even if I do try to sneak out of the room, I'll be seen by the servants. It'd be ever worse if my father saw me!"

"Hey, we have a secret door in and out of your compound, right?"

"You mean-"

"Yep, you can sneak out through there."

"But climbing out my balcony sounds a little too dangerous."

"Don't worry, have you forgotten? You and I used to do so many crazy stunts when we were kids. WE even got one of your servants chasing after us!"

"Yeah, I do remember… Okay, I'll come. Wait for me tomorrow."

"Great! Then, see you tomorrow! Bye!"

We waved our goodbyes and he left the room. I went to bed right after, _I can't wait for tomorrow… Wait, I didn't ask where we're going to go for this hiking trip!_

**-The next day**

"Princess, I shall take my leave now."

"Yes, oh. One question, is my father going to work as well today?"

"Yes, princess. He left early in the morning."

"I understand. You may go. Thank you."

The maid left, now I'm finally alone. Cliff must be arriving soon, so I need to get ready. I took out some clothes from my wardrobe. A blue t-shirt, knee length trousers, high top converse and tied my hair up in a ponytail. I looked at myself in the mirror, good, I'm ready! And just in time too! Cliff was at my balcony. I ran out and he signaled for me to follow him. He jumped down the balcony, grabbing the nearby tree branches to swing himself to safety. I looked down, it was a long way down. I gulped, how can I do this? Then, Cliff signaled me and assured me that he would catch me. I felt a little relieved. So, putting my faith on Cliff, I jumped. A closed my eyes as I felt the force of gravity work on my body, but I was safely caught in the arms of Cliff. We looked at each other for a while, then, realized the situation we were in and quickly got apart, our cheeks burning a deep red.

"A-alright, now that you're here, let's go." Cliff said, still blushing.

"Y-yeah!"

We both went out through the secret entrance, then went to Aja's winery.

"Huh? This is-"

"Yes, your aunt Manna's shop. The others are waiting inside."

We entered the shop and before I could react to the others, Chelsea hugged me tightly and exclaimed, "Claire! I missed you! We all missed you so!"

"Yeah, I miss you guys too."

"My my, Claire, it's good to see you again." Manna said.

"Hello, aunt Manna! It's been a while!"

"It sure has. And it seems you've really made friends now, they care for you so much. They came here before when you were forcefully brought home by your father's guards, and we got acquainted then. And today too, they all waited for you here. We had a few conversations before you arrived, and they all said they really cared for you." Manna chattered.

"Hehe, yeah, well, you're our friend after all." Chelsea said.

"Hey Cliff, nothing happened when you retrieved Claire, right?" Jack asked. 

"N-nothing happened at all!" we both exclaimed, our cheeks both pink in embarrassment.

"Huh, well that's okay then, if the guards didn't spot you. You both didn't need to retort so quickly… Or is it that something DID happen between you two~?" Jack teased.

"No!" we both shouted.

"Jack, I think that's enough teasing." Mary said.

"If you're going all going to chatter all day here, I'm leaving first." Vaughn said.

"Wait, wait! We're coming!" Chelsea exclaimed, running after him.

It seems we're going hiking on Mother's Hill. One of the mountains surrounding Flower Valley Kingdom. They say that there are vast flower fields near the top. So the others decided to go and see the flowers while they're blooming. We talked as we hiked up, the scenic view is magnificent, this is the first time I went on a scenic hike like this. Soon, we reached our destination, the flower field. The open plains were adorned with flowers of different sizes and colours. It was beautiful!

"Oh my! This is beautiful! Chelsea, Chelsea, let's go and take a closer look at all those flowers!" I said, I was so excited to see all those flowers up close.

"Alright, let me unpack first. You guys, could you find a spot to sit and relax?"

"Sure, leave it to us!" Jill said, then me and Chelsea went towards the flowers.

**Normal P.O.V**

"Claire seems to be enjoying this." Mary said.

"Yes, because this is the first time she even went out to another place other than her schools, and the first time she ever went out with friends." Cliff answered.

"You're kidding, you mean she hasn't even once stepped foot outside by herself?" Jill asked, shocked.

"Yes, when we were kids, she and I used to ask for permission to go to fields like this, but her father always refused. Instead, he let us play in the backyard. So this is the first time she's experienced a hike like this." Cliff said.

"Man, that's boring!" Jack said.

"Hmp, it was always like that when I started to work in their estate anyway." Skye commented.

"Speaking of that, Skye, you don't work in their house regularly?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, well, only some days. I take a one day off then work the next day, then take another day off, like that. So I'm not a regular worked like the others."

"What made you work there anyway?" Jill asked.

"Well… Let's just say I'm doing this for Claire's sake, and mine."

"Claire's?" Jill asked.

"You ask too many questions." Skye said, flicking her forehead.

After spending three hours in the field, playing around, looking at the flowers, relaxing and having conversations, the group decided to go back. On approaching the school from Sunny Street, they took the roundabout way home, they passed by Haila's café. Chelsea looked inside the café as she passed, then spotted a familiar figure.

"Claire! Lumina alert! Hurry up and hide!" she whispered-shouted.

"Let's go!" Cliff said, as he took Claire's hand and ran ahead.

Meanwhile, inside the café, Lumina was drinking tea and relaxing, when she turned her head to look at people passing by, she saw a glimpse of what seemed to be Claire. Shocked, she ran out the shop and saw the others.

"Oh, you there! Was, by any chance, Claire with you?" she asked.

Jill turned around to answer, "No. Why would Claire be with us? Have you forgotten that she's locked up in her room thanks to you?"

"I know. Was just making sure, you can go now. Shoo, shoo."

Lumina then made her way back to the café, but she remembered something as she talked to the others, thinking back on the members present, Cliff was not there! Which means-

"Claire was there!"

Lumina rushed to the Regison mansion.

**Claire's P.O.V**

Cliff and I ran all the way back to my house, we entered though the secret entrance and helped me up the balcony.

"Thank you so much for escorting me, Cliff."

"You're welcome."

"I sure hope Lumina didn't spot me…"

"I don't think so, Chelsea gave us the signal right away anyway. And we ran as fast as we could from then."

"Yeah. Anyway, I had fun today. I'm really happy that you took me there."

"Hey, it wasn't just me, the others wanted you there as well."

"Yeah, but you were always by my side one way or another. Even when I'm locked in my room, you came just to see me. So, thank you."

I walked closer to him, he looked really flustered.

"C-Claire?"

_This is now or never! _I leaned closer to him and kissed his cheeks. I took a step back, thanked him again and ran inside the room. _That was so embarrassing!_

**Normal P.O.V**

Cliff was taken off guard by Claire's actions. His cheeks burned a deep crimson as he played back the event that happened, then he too proceeded to head back out.

Unbeknown to them, a pair of eyes were watching their every move.

"Fufufu, I have you now, Cliff!" Lumina said, as she watched him disappear amongst the bushes. "Now I just have to wait for you here and catch you red-handed."

**-A week later- **

Claire was in her balcony, she was waiting for a certain brunette. Though she was still embarrassed about what she did to him.

"A kiss! Though it's in the cheeks and all, but that's still so embarrassing!" she mentally shouted.

Soon, she saw the person she was waiting for, Cliff. She beamed as she saw him make his way up the balcony.

"What are you doing out here? Isn't it cold?" he asked.

"No, I was just wai-… L-looking at the stars, right!"

"Oh."

"Anyway, any leads so far?"

"No, not yet, we're still doing our best though."

"I understand… A-about what happened last time, I-"

"It's okay. It caught me off guard, but… I… I kinda l-liked it…" he said, blushing.

Suddenly, Claire's main room door opened. They turned around in alarm and saw Claire's father and Lumina.

"See, uncle Regison? He's trying to steal your daughter!"

"Father!"

**Haha! Cliffhanger! Now, what will Claire's father do to them both? Find out on the next chapter. Until then, see you!**


	11. the third hindrance of Lumina

**Hello again! Haven't updated in a while right? I got kinda busy with this and that, well anyway, I managed to update again! Woo! I am so glad I didn't promise an everyday update, haha. Anyway, onwards to the 10****th**** chapter! Oh, we're finally reaching the 10****th**** chapter! Wohoo! Also, Happy belated New Year! Hope the year 2016 brings you all happiness and luck!  
**

Chapter 10 – The third hindrance of Lumina

**Claire's P.O.V**

"Father!"

"You, you're an Alexander!? Haven't your parents told you that you are forbidden from stepping into Regison territory?"

"Yes, uncle Regison. He's an Alexander, he hid his surname to get close to your daughter." Lumina added.

"Father, it's not what you think! He-" I tried to explain, but father woudn't have any of it.

"Enough! Guards! Throw this imposter out!"

"Father!"

"Quiet! And you, you will be kept under tight security, so this doesn't happen anymore." My father said, then the guards outside came in and took Cliff away.

After that, my father took one glance at me and went out, Lumina sneered at me, then walked towards me. She said,

"Oh, that's too bad. Your only connection to the outside world was just taken away. But, if you want, you can stick with me. You can come out of this place."

"Never. Just- just leave me alone, Lumina."

"Very well, if that's what you chose. I'll be seeing you later, 'princess'."

**Normal P.O.V**

Lumina left the room and murmured to herself, "Well, I'm done with these two. Now, I got to deal with a certain commoner."

-**Next day-**

"What?! You mean you got caught? Wha- how? Did you get threatened? Tell us!" Chelsea interrogated Cliff. They were at the secret base.

"It seems Lumina found out our meetings. Her father told me to never step foot there again, but that's just it. Although she's now kept under tight security."

"Wow, must be tough living a life like that." Jack commented.

"I don't think I'll be able to go there casually anymore. So, I can only go, if there's something big going on. Like if we found whom we're searching for." Cliff said.

"The Saibaras." Mary mentioned.

"Geez, why is it so hard to find them!" Jill whined.

"Hey. We only got a few housed in the last street left, so we'll find them eventually. We've been asking people if they know them as well. So let's hope it'll go smoothly." Skye reassured.

"That's right, we only got a few more days before we finish interrogating the four streets of Flower Valley, so we're bound to find them soon!" Chelsea exclaimed, making the others feel a bit relieved.

"Right, we won't stop until we're done!" Jack exclaimed.

**-After school, classroom-**

"Hey guys, go ahead and start the search! I need to finish some work the teachers left me." Jill said, the others heeded her request and went ahead.

While Jill was doing the finishing touched of her work, Lumina approached her. Jill looked up and said,

"What do you want?", in an annoyed tone.

" Oh, nothing. I just want to bring up an offer."

"An offer?"

"Yes. One, you keep pursuing Skye and get a larger majority of the school to hate you. And two, you give up on Skey and you get to live a normal school life. So, what will it be?"

"Are you kidding me? You can't just put an offer like that! Besides, I haven't ever thought of giving up on Skye, so that's my decision, I don't care about your strange offer. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to give this to the teacher." Jill said, then left the classroom.

"Heh, you 'don't care'? Well, you've made an enemy of your worst nightmare."

**-Next day, classroom-**

"Morning everyone." Jill greeted, seeming out of breath.

"Morning. Jill, what's wrong? You seem tired." Mary asked.

"Well, I don't know why. But I was chased by an angry mob just after I left the house. I ran all the way here." Jill explained.

"Jill, what boy did you fell in love with that made a whole mob run after you in anger?" Jack asked.

"What the heck are you talking about? I have no idea and me loving or having a crush on a boy has got nothing to do with this!"

"We're just joking." Chelsea said, laughing along with the others.

"Hm? Skye, you're pretty quiet. What's wrong?" Cliff asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about something."

**-Lunch break-**

"Alright everyone, let's go have lunch!" Chelsea said. They were heading out the room, to go to their secret base. Jack went out first, Mary and Chelsea waited for Jill. As soon as Jill stepped out of the class, the people around stopped whatever they were doing.

"What's going-" Chelsea didn't finish her sentence, a girl shouted.

"Everyone! That's the witch that stole the heart of our idol!"

"What?" Jill asked.

"Don't play dumb. We knew you cast a spell on him! We heard everything!" a boy shouted.

"Witch! Give us back his heart! Give us back Skye's heart!" they shouted. Throwing their lunches at them.

"Waaah!" Mary shouted, not liking the atmosphere around them, and ran away to the base.

"Mary! Wait! Jill-" Chelsea shouted over to Jill, but Jill was too scared to move.

Then a hand grabbed Jill's, she looked towards the owner of that hand and saw Skye's face. "Come on! Are you just going to stand here! Let's go!" he shouted, then pulled Jill along.

"Give us back his heart! You wicked witch!" The girls shouted, as they ran after them.

Skye pulled Jill along, all the was to the base where Jack was waiting for them at the door.

"Jack! Close the door now!" Skye ordered, just s the two of them entered the room.

"Roger!" Jack replied, as he closed the door shut. Keeping the angry mob of people out.

"Whew, that was some scare. Jill, what did you do?" Chelsea asked.

"I told you, I don't know!"

"Hey! Why'd you shut us out as well!" Vaughn shouted, from the balcony window at the back of the room.

"Now we have to climb our way in." Cliff complained as well.

"Sorry. We got surprised by the angry mob. And we can't open the door yet since they're all still outside." Jack said.

"Anyway, if you don't know what caused this, then do you have any idea of who might have caused it instead?" Skye asked.

"No, I-… Wait, there is someone. Lumina."

"Lumina? Why would she- oh! I get it! That girl." Chelsea stated.

"But I don't mind it. It's just some false accusations anyway. I can deal with that." Jill reassured them.

But throughout the days that followed, the treatment towards Jill got from fine to worse. They planted traps for her, threw some random objects at her. Write bad jokes about her in the classroom. Paste posters of false beliefs about her everywhere. The others of the secret base tried to help, but they couldn't do much. At one time, a bucked of water was thrown at her, the bullying got worse. Finally, at the secret base,

"Jill, are you… Okay?" Mary asked.

"Okay? Okay?! Can't you see I'm not! I've had enough of this! I hate this treatment! Why? WHY only me!? I have had it!"

"Jill- !" Chelsea tried to say something, but Vaughn stopped her.

"Sorry guys. But, can I stop coming to the search for now?"

"But Jill-" Mary tried to protest.

"Wait, Mary. Of course, Jill. Take some time to relax. We understand your situation, and it must be very stressful. Take a rest for now. Jack, accompany Mary on the search today." Chelsea said.

"Hah! Well, okay. Just until Jill gets better." Jack said.

"Thanks everyone." Jill said.

"Tell us whenever you're ready to continue again. And I'm sorry we couldn't do anything for you, really." Chelsea apologized.

"No, no. It's okay. I need to sort this problem out myself. I just need some time." Jill replied. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I want to get home early today."

After saying that, Jill left the room, the others could only watch as one of their friends was trying to fix the situation by herself.

**What will Jill do now? And will Claire be under tight security by her father forever? We'll just have to find out later! Yeah, I tried my best at this chapter. Since this chapter is so gloomy, which really isn't my favorite part of every stories. But I assure you, it will brighten soon, just you wait! Well, look forward to future chapters. **


	12. Jill's problems

**Hello again! I'm back with more updates! I hope everyone enjoyed reading this story of mine. Anyway, onwards to the 11****th**** chapter! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 11 – Jill's problems**

The following two days, Jill stayed at home. Her friends tried to talk her out of her stress, or you could say depression from all the treatment she received the past few days. But nothing could make her go out.

"Come on, Jill. You can't stay here all your life." Chelsea persuaded.

"No, I prefer to stay here. I can't take their horrible comments anymore." Jill answered.

"You know they're just spinning lies about you. You needn't make yourself depressed over that." Vaughn said.

Jill just let out a sigh, then said, "Thanks for worrying, but really. I'll come to school when I feel like it."

"Jill, at this rate, even your studies will be affected." Mary said.

"Mary, I know you mean well. But think about it in my point of view. Do you think you'd be able to face all those yourself?" Jill stated, starting to get annoyed.

"I-I-", Mary stammered.

"No, no you can't. So just leave me alone. I want to be by myself right now!", and with that, Jill turned her back on them, refusing to listen to their pleas any longer.

"Let's go. I think she needs more time." Chelsea said, and the three of them left.

Jill's mother, who was listening to their conversation now, was also starting to worry about her daughter. She made a decision to talk to her daughter about it in the night.

**-That night-**

There came a knock in Jill's bedroom door.

"Who is it?" Jill asked.

"Your mother, Jill, we need to talk."

Jill opened her door reluctantly, and then proceeded to sit in her bed.

"Jill, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Jill, I know you're hiding the reasons you aren't going to school anymore. You can tell me." Her mother said.

Jill took a glance at her mother, and then let out a sigh, "It's just- I'm being treated badly at school these days."

"How were you being treated?"

"Some of the girls and a few boys started to make fun of me. Calling me names, pulling horrible pranks in front of the while school. And these days, their pranks got worse-"

"So you decided to take refuge in the house?"

Jill reluctantly nodded, "It's safe."

"Jill, you can't stop this problem if you stay here like this."

"Not you too, mum" Jill whined.

"Then tell me why they're treating you like this."

"A-about a boy I like."

"A boy you like, huh. Then tell me, are they doing all these because of him?"

"I guess so; they keep saying his name and telling me to give back his heart, or something. But, I'm sure Lumina was the one who caused this."

"And who is Lumina?"

"She's a snobby rich girl. She gets in the way of everything we do. She made Claire's father forbid Claire from going to school. She even gets in Claire and Cliff's relationship, just because they're trying to rekindle their families' ties. And even now, she threatened me about this, if I didn't give up on 'him'."

"Then tell me something. Do you really love this boy? The one she threatened you for?"

"O-of course I love him! But he doesn't realize it yet, I guess."

"If you love him, then why are you here? Don't tell me you're afraid he'll find out about you crush on him?"

"I guess that's it."

"Jill, you're more mature than that! So what if he finds out about it! If you truly love him, then you won't be afraid of him finding it out, even of you wanted to keep it a secret."

"But their pranks and false accusations are too much to bear."

"So? They're just false accusations! There's no truth in it so even if others do believe it, you can prove them wrong. And don't take their pranks too seriously. Just keep a positive mind, and everything will be alright."

"! You're right! I was just being a wuss. Thanks mum; I'll try that solution tomorrow."

"That's my daughter. I'm proud of you, know that."

"I know" Jill answered, in high spirits.

**-Next day-**

"Hey, everyone! The witch is back!" a boy shouted through the corridors.

"So, ready to give Skye's heart back?" A girl asked.

"Huh? Oh, you think I'm a witch? Then to prove it, should I turn you into an ugly frog?" Jill remarked.

"You're bluffing."

"Then if you don't believe it, stop calling me that." Jill said, then walked away.

Jill entered the classroom to be greeted by her friends.

"Jill, you came! Were they still treating you bad?" Chelsea asked.

"Not much now." Jill answered.

"Jill, about yesterday.. um.." Mary tried to form a sentence.

"Mary, I'm really sorry about yesterday. I was really stressed about everything. I didn't mean to hurt you like that."

"Oh, it's okay. I was at fault for over worrying as well."

"So, you are coming regularly from now on?" Skye asked.

"Yes, I'm not going to let some problems like this prevent me from seeing someone."

"Huh? Who?" Skye asked.

"It's a secret." Jill answered, using her fingers to signal keeping her mouth shut.

The whole day, Jill was still being treated badly, pranks pulled on her. But Jill laughed through all of them, and by the end of the day, only a few of the former people who started it was left.

"Mum was right; I just have to think positive!"

Then she met Lumina on her way to the school gates,

"So, you managed to show your face again. I was hoping that you'd stay in your hole from now on."

"Well, sorry to burst you bubble of hope, but like I said, I'm not willing to give up on Skye just yet."

"Hmp."

Then Jill left her to join up with the others, it was the last day of their search.

After an hour or so, they reached the last house. Chelsea knocked on the door, and a woman who sat on a wheelchair answered.

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"Ma'am, may I know, if by any chance, are you a Saibara?"

"A Saibara? No, I'm not. But the people next door were Saibaras. But they recently had to move away for some reason."

"I see, thank you for your help." Chelsea said, and then left.

"We were so close! Lumina really hid them well.", Chelsea complaint.

"How are we going to do from now on? We can't just casually go to another country on a whim." Jill asked.

"I have no idea now." Chelsea said.

Then, Jack who was late for the search, caught up to them.

"Hey guys! You found them?"

"We did, but it seems the move away recently." Cliff answered.

"What a bummer. I was just talking to my friend before I came here. I seems he's living with his grandfather now. Since both his parents moved away recently." Jack stated.

"! Is that true? Then, where did he live, before he lived with his grandfather?" Cliff asked.

"Um, there, I think." Jack answered, pointing to the locked house next door.

"He's the one we're looking for! Jack! Take us to him!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"O-okay, follow me!" Jack said, and then they rushed to meet his friend.

On the way, Jill, who was in he back of the group was pulled away in a secluded area. The others didn't notice she was missing at first, as Skye looked back, he noticed Jill was missing. So he told the others to go ahead as he ran back.

"What does he want to do now? We're on a crucial part of our mission!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"Since when did this become a mission?" Jack commented.

"Wait, Jill's missing" Mary pointed out.

"She is? Then we sh-" Chelsea was cut off.

"Skye's looking for her. Let's go." Vaughn said.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Chelsea asked.

"It's way too obvious." Jack answered in his stead.

Then they continued to find Jack's friend.

**-Meanwhile, at Jill's part-**

"What do you want now?" Jill asked. Then a familiar voice answered,

"I saying this one last time, give up on Skye.", the voice was from Lumina.

"Like I said, I will never give up on him."

"Oh, you will have your reasons to give up on him."

"And that is-?"

"I can fire your mother and she'll be out of job."

"! You can't be serious."

"Oh, I am. Incidentally, my family is the head of the company she's working under. So I can tell them to fire her for one reason or the other."

"Then you would also know that my mother's the only one who works in the family!"

"Then blame your father for kicking the bucket!"

"You- you- just shut up!", Jill tried to punch her, but her hand was caught be someone. That someone was Skye.

"S-Skye?"

"My dear Skye, you came to save me from this monster!" Lumina cheered.

"You-" Jill tried to speak.

"That's enough, wouldn't you say?" Skye said.

"Yes, see? You're just causing my Skye here more problems." Lumina jeered.

"True, you do cause me problems."

Tears started to form in Jill's eyes, whether it was from Lumina's remark about her father or because of what Skye said, she didn't know.

"But… The problems you caused me are- how should I put it? Nice, yet strange. I always seem to think about you almost all the time I'm awake, and I can't get you off my head. Even though I tried to not think about you, I always end up seeing your smiling face. This causes more and more problems for me, because I don't know what I should do." Skye confessed.

"S-Skye, what are you-?" Lumina tried to say.

"If you called her a monster, than you're far worse. You're a monster that doesn't have a heart at all, and making yourself happy at the cause of other's misery." Skye continued, "Oh, and if you did fire her mother, you do know that I can tell the Regisons about your actions. Your family work under tem after all, and they did have a liking to Jill's mum for her hard working attitude. So, I'm sure they'll fire your relative instead."

"You- You- Ahh! I've had enough!" Lumina shouted, then stormed off.

"Skye.." Jill could find no words to thank him.

"Hm? Oh, ah, about your father and all, you can let it out, if you want." Skye said, as he blushed.

Jill's tears fell right after, all her bottled up feelings let loose. Skye comforted her by patting her head as she cried her face buried in his chest.

As Lumina stormed off, her phone rang, it was one of her servants, she picked it up in anger and shouted, "What is it!?"

On the other line, a male voice said, "Miss Lumina, it seems they found the Saibaras."

"What?! How- Where are they now?!"

"At Mineral Street."

**Woo! Jill and Skye finally got together! Though, Jill still hasn't told Skye yet. Skye became her knight in the end, will Cliff do the same for Claire? Find out! And Lumina's plan on making Jill give up on Skye backfired on her. Will Lumina be able to stop them? Does she still have tricks up her sleeves? Will Lumina's plan finally fall apart now? Find out in the next chapter!**


	13. the final hindrance of Lumina

**Hello again, everyone! Another update! The story's coming to an end, only a few more chapters ahead. It has been fun, isn't it? I hope you all stick with me until the end. Anyway, onwards to the 12****th**** chapter! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 12 – the final hindrance of Lumina**

"So Gray, this is where you and your grandfather live?" Jack asked, looking at the local blacksmith shop.

"Yes, I'll go tell him that you need his presence." Gray answered, as they went in the house. He knocked on his grandfather's door,

"Grandfather, my friends are here to see you. They want to ask you something."

"Let them come in."

Gray went in first, then ushered the others to come in, his grandfather then asked,

"So, what have you come to see me for? Is there some jewellery to make?"

"No, please pardon me asking, but you are a Saibara, right?" Cliff asked.

"Yes, I am."

"I see. Actually, I want to ask you about the history of the Regisons and the Alexanders." Cliff enquired.

"How did you know of that secret?" asked Mr. Saibara, in surprise.

"I'm an Alexander, and our friend, who currently is under strict protection by her father, is a Regison. We want to find out the history of our families' ties, why they broke off their ties, and try to fix our relationships." answered Cliff, seriously.

"I would tell it to you, but you must bring your other friend first. It is best that the both of you know of it." Mr. Saibara said.

"Bur she's under the protection of her father, so it'll be hard for her to come." Chelsea said.

"That doesn't matter. Once you and the girl come, I will tell you about your families' history." Mr. Saibara said, in a huff.

"I understand. I'll try and bring her here somehow." Cliff answered.

"Then I will be waiting." he answered, hen the others left the room. "So, they finally arrived. The ones you were waiting for, grandfather." he murmured in a tone, which Gray didn't seem to hear.

Back outside, the others turned to Cliff, Jack asked,

"Cliff, you're seriously not trying to go there tonight, right?"

"Of course, I am. The faster I bring her here, the quicker we will be able to fix our families' relationship." He answered.

"But, the place might be teeming with guards, since her father found out that you've been visiting her." Chelsea said, in consideration.

"Yeah, what if they catch you again?" Mary said.

"Don't worry; I'll do my best to keep out of sight." Cliff answered.

"Just don't be reckless and just rush in." said Vaughn, "You always do seem to rush things, whenever Claire's concerned." He added.

The others laughed as Cliff blushed and retorted his act. Unbeknown to them, Lumina heard their whole conversation and decided to play the final card.

**-That night, Regison mansion-**

Claire is in her room, as expected. She looked outside her balcony window and sighed,

"Wonder, how the others are doing." she said to herself.

She looked around the garden, some of the guards are still in their respective positions, but some seemed to have gone somewhere.

"That's strange. I wonder if father decided to loosen the security… Nah, father would never do that. Maybe, they went for short break?"

She decided to head back to her books, right now, as she's confined to her room all the time. She decided to write stories to busy herself, when she's not studying or dazing out thinking of her fiends. After a while of silence, she heard some noised outside her balcony door. She decided to investigate, and so she went out. Then she was greeted by someone whom she thought she'd never meet again.

"Cliff? How-? When-? What-?", she couldn't decide which question she should ask.

"Calm down, I'm here to tell you some good news." He said,

"Good news?"

"Yes, we found the Saibara, and it seems he knows our families' history. He's willing to tell us, but we both have to be there."

"Even me?"

"Yes, that's why I've come to break you out of here."

"But Cliff, what is father-"

"Don't worry, it won't be long. We go there, listen to his story, and we'll come back here. No one will know you're missing for a while. Trust me." He said, as he held out a hand to her.

Claire thought of the consequences, but convinced herself that it's for their families. So she decided to break out for a while, and go with Cliff. She was about to take his hand when they heard the door open.

"See uncle Regison? He came again to take your daughter again, like last time." Lumina said, as she pointed towards the two.

"You! How dare you come back here! I thought I told you to never set your foot here ever again! Get out! Guards, throw this boy out! And make sure he never enter this place again!" he shouted.

The guards came and forcefully pulled Cliff apart from Claire. Claire tried to run after them, but was stopped by her father.

"Father, he-!"

Claire was stopped mid sentence when she was slapped by her father. Tears flowed down her face as she felt the stinging pain her father inflicted on her cheeks. Cliff saw Claire hurt, and tried to break free of their clutches and run to her aid, but he wasn't strong enough. He could only watch the hurt Claire as he was pulled out of the mansion door, all the way to the gates, where they literally threw him out. One of the guards said,

"You better not come back here. You're lucky for the second time, but you won't be so luck the third time. Now go!"

Cliff glared at them, then at the mansion, and then he went away.

Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Claire was in her room, with Lumina. Her father told Lumina to keep an eye out on Claire, whether Claire liked it or not.

"Now, don't be so sad Claire. You won't have to be alone in this room anymore, I'm going to take care of you." Lumina snickered.

Claire just looked at Lumina, eyes filled with tears and sadness. Then she sighed as she covered herself under the blankets.

**-The next day-**

"What? You got caught again? We told you to be careful!" Chelsea exclaimed, "But it's not surprising, she's under tight security."

"Cliff, was Lumina behind this again?" Skye asked. Cliff nodded.

"That girl never quits, does she?" Jill remarked.

"But what should we do now? They won't be able to fix their family ties at this rate." Mary said.

"Hey, we'll think of something! Right Cilff?"

Cliff remained silent the whole time, the others noticed and tried to cheer him up.

"Cliff, don't get so gloomy like that. Tell me you haven't given up yet." Jack asked.

"I don't know anymore. I want to fix our ties, but I don't think I can ever get Claire out of there." Cliff said, with a gloomy expression.

"What?! That's not the Cliff we know! Come on, get a grip! You're the only one who can go there and do something!" Chelsea exclaimed, as she grabbed Cliff by the shoulders.

"Yeah, but-!"

"No 'but's! I know, we know you can get Claire out of there!" she answered back.

With that, Cliff got back some of his enthusiasm. The others too lightened up, and began to hold a meeting on how to get Claire out.

**-A week later, at the Regison mansion-**

"Well, it's been a week already. Maybe your knight isn't coming here anymore." Lumina commented.

Claire remained quiet.

"Oh, what is this? You can't make any excuses for him anymore? Ahaha! That's so weak!"

"I know. I believe in him! He will come for me; he must need some time, that's all."

"My dear Claire, false hope is a scary thing. Trust me on this."

Claire just looked at her, then looked away towards the school.

**-Secret Base-**

"Skye, have you figured the routine of the guards?" Cliff asked.

"Hey, I'm not a master of stealth for no reason. Of course, I figured out their routine." Skye self-complemented himself.

"Stop with the self-complement and get on with it." Chelsea said.

"Alright, I found the daily routine shift of the guards on one of the rooms. And it seems security I a bit loose in Saturdays than any other days of the week. See, this is the layout of the positions the guards are placed in for every day of the week.", he spread the layout in he table.

"There ARE lesser guards on post at Saturday!" Jack exclaimed.

"But the numbers aren't far behind as compared to other days, but they are placed a bit farther apart than other days." Jill commented.

"What do you think, Cliff?" Vaughn asked.

Cliff took a good look at the layout for Saturday, then he answered, "Yeah, I think I can make it there, and there are no guards near the secret entrance."

"That's one problem out of the way, but what about Lumina?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, I heard that she's on duty near Claire." Skye said.

"I'll think of a way." Cliff answered.

"I'll stay near the place, just in case. And word of advice, to blend in the dark, wear darker clothes, black is good. Though I'm sure you might've already known this." Skye said.

"Thanks for telling." Cliff answered.

"Alright, operation: bring Claire out II starts tomorrow night!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"So the first attempt was operation I?" Jack commented.

"I hope you'll succeed this time." Mary said. 

"Yeah, we'll be praying!" Jill added.

**-The following night, Reginson mansion-**

"This is now or never." Cliff said to himself as he entered the Regison grounds through the secret entrance. He hid behind the trees nearby as he spied on the guards positioned a bit farther from him. When the guard turned his back, Cliff quickly headed to the tree that was nearest to Claire's balcony. The very tree he always used to climb up and reach his destination. He hid himself just in time as the guard turned around to face his side. Soon, when the coast was clear again, he climbed up the tree, hurriedly jumped over the balcony and hid yet again near the walls next to the door.

Of course, as he jumped over to the balcony, the leaves of the tree rustled, which caught the guard's attention. He looked up but saw nothing and since it was quite windy that night, he dismissed it as the wind rustling the leaves.

Cliff saw the room lights off, so he suspected that Claire was already asleep, and that Lumina already went back. He quietly opened the door and stepped in. He looked around, and saw no signs of anyone else present in the room. But suddenly, the lights were turned on.

"Oho, so the knight really came back. But too bad I'm still here." Lumina said, as she headed towards Cliff.

"Cliff." Claire called out, a mix of happiness and worry for the boy shown in her eyes.

"Oh, I won't make quite a ruckus if I were you, there are guards positioned outside the room as well. They'll go away, as soon as I leave the room, which I won't be doing for a while."

"Tell me one thing, Lumina. Why are you doing this?" Cliff asked.

"Oh? Why I'm doing this? Isn't it obvious, I'm doing uncle Regison a favor. Isn't that all?" she answered. 

"But is this what you really want to do?"

"Well, of course. What other things do I need to do, except making my family happy?"

"Isn't that what all parents tell to their children? Do everything they can to make them happy? But what I'm asking is what YOU want to do."

"Yeah Lumina, what do you want to do? I don't think having fun in other people's despair is what you really want to do." Claire added, noticing Cliff trying to talk Lumina out of this.

"Well, it wasn't my decision from the very start. But I don't really know what I would do except doing this. It's my only way of happiness." Lumina said, as she started to ponder on the question.

"Making your family happy is good and all, but you don't have to do everything they wish you to do. You also have to think of yourself, what really makes you happy?" Claire continued her question, making Lumina even more confused to the question.

"No one ever really asks me what I want to do…" she answered.

"Then tell me this, did you have fun when you tried to force Jill to give up on Skye? What if the situation's reversed and you'd be the one people torture?" Cliff asked.

"I-I won't like it…"

"Lumina, I'm sure you're doing all this for your parent's sake, and a few for your own, but you don't have to force yourself to become someone else that your parents want you to be. Unlike me, who am always under watchful eyes, you're free. Of course, people might watch your every move as well, but that doesn't mean you need to become a person they want you to be. Don't let other's make who you are, make yourself upon who you want to be." Claire said.

Lumina remained quiet for a while before she spoke again,

"You came here through the secret entrance you said, right? Go back."

"Lumina?" Claire called.

"And… Take Claire with you. I'll tell the guards outside that you're already asleep and my work here is done."

"Is this some sore of trap?" Cliff asked, in her change of attitude.

"Hey, I'm doing you a favor, even though I don't like it. I can see that you both are really intent on fixing this family relationship thing. And I don't think I can meddle with the relationship between you two as well. It's my loss. Now go."

Claire smiled, as she said her thanks,

"Oh, just a minute." She said, as she quickly wrote a small letter and kept it in her bed. "Just in case, someone enters the room after this.", then headed towards Cliff. Cliff and she went out. Lumina watched them disappear into the darkness, probably went through the secret entrance by now. She then left the room, after turning the lights off.

"The 'princess' is asleep now. I made sure of it. You can go now." Lumina told the guard, he left and Lumina made towards the door.

"Nothing's up, right?" Skye asked, as he saw Lumina heading for the door.

"No, not anymore. I can see that they really love each other, just like you towards Jill. I'll leave you all alone. It had been fun." Lumina said, then she exited the mansion.

"I guess it's 'operation clear' then." Skye muttered.

**Another chapter done! And Lumina finally given up on trying to go between them! Now the only thing left is for Claire and Cliff to learn their families' history and try to fix that. Will they succeed in this? Find out in the next chapter!**


	14. Bringing the two houses together

**Hello again! Wohoo! I've finally reached the last chapter! That took me quite a long time, but I thank everyone who read this story, especially from the start to the finish. Arigatou! Anyway, onwards to the last chapter, chapter 13! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 13 – Bringing the two houses together.**

Claire and Cliff soon reached the local blacksmith, where Mr. Saibara lives.

"So, this is the place?" asked Claire.

"Yes, we seemed to have overlooked it before during the search, since it looked like a normal shop." Cliff answered.

They knocked on the door and were greeted by Gray.

"Oh, hello. Are you here to see my grandfather?"

"Yes, is he in?"

"Yeah, he's in his room. You can go in."

Cliff went in first, followed by Claire. They went inside Mr. Saibara's room.

"Greetings, Mr. Saibara. I've come back, along with Claire." Cliff announced.

Mr. Saibara looked at the two of them and motioned for them to sit down. Soon, he began to tell them their families' history.

"My grandfather always hoped that someday, one member from the two houses would come and seek information. It's a pity he didn't live long enough to see this day. Listen closely, I shall tell you everything I remember form my father."

Claire and Cliff paid close attention, as Mr. Saibara started to narrate the events that happened.

"This all happened during my grandfather's time, and the reason both your families have such a bad relationship now is quite a silly reason, in fact. Back then, the Saibaras had close ties with both the Regisons and the Alexanders. The daughter and son of the two houses that is from the Alexanders and the Regisons fell in love and were engaged to each other. But one of the Saibaras loved the daughter and so, made some false accusations towards both the houses so he could marry the daughter of the Alexanders. But, the Alexanders found out about the lies and expelled the Saibaras. Soon, they tried to rekindle with the Regisons, to tell them that everything was a lie, but too stubborn to listen, they turned them away. And this has been going on ever since." He finished.

"So, does this mean the Saibaras still have close ties with the Regisons?" Claire aksed.

"Yes, since it was only the Alexanders who found out about the lie. But from then onwards, we couldn't make up with them anymore." Mr. Saibara answered.

"I think they'll forgive you, I mean my mother and father. Since your grandfather told this event from generation to generation, in hopes that someday, someone would come and try to fix this." Cliff reassured.

"Cliff's right!" Claire beamed.

"Well, I'll be glad if they do forgive us."

"Um… Mr. Saibara, can you do me a favour?" Claire asked.

"What is it?"

"You see-"

After a while, Claire and Cliff said their good nights and left the house. Claire looked at Cliff, wanting to ask him something, Cliff noticed and asked,

"What is it? You seem like you want to ask me something."

"Uh.. Is it okay for me to come and stay over at yours?", blushing.

"Uh… Sure, you can. But what if someone found out you went missing?" Cliff asked, slightly blushing.

"It's okay; I left a note for them."

"Then I guess its okay." Cliff said, as they went back to his place.

**-At Cliff's house-**

"Cliff, I've been meaning to ask, if you're staying here, then what about your parents?"

"They're staying at the mansion, you know, that mansion at the end of the streets at 'Forget-Me-Not'."

Claire nodded and proceeded to look around the room, nothing changed much since they last visited. Then, she saw an old photograph she remembered,

"Hey, this photo-"

"Yeah, that was taken by your mother back when you used to bring me at your house after school."

"We were still elementary kids then." Claire smiled, reminiscing the memories.

"Yeah, that tie, I didn't know of our family history and all, but your mother told me to hide the fact that I am an Alexander from your father. But I forgot and told him my real name." Cliff said, looking a bit downcast.

"But hey, we're together again, just like that time." Claire said, putting a smile on Cliff's face.

"You know what, looking at that photo. I'm kinda glad of what the Saibaras did back then." Cliff said, as he took another look at the photograph Claire was holding.

"Why is that?" Claire asked, puzzled.

"Because we might be relatives if the two houses ever got married, and we won't be able to stay like this." Cliff confessed, as his cheeks started to go red.

"I guess you're right about that." Claire replied, blushing as well.

"Anyway, we have a long day tomorrow, so let's head to bed now. Oh, you can take the spare bed next to mine." He said, pointing at another bed at the other end of the bedroom.

"Okay, good night." She answered, then headed off to sleep.

**-Next day, Regison mansion-**

"Princess, are you awake yet?" A maid called out, as she entered Claire's room. She was shocked to find it empty. She rushed to the king and queen's bedroom and announced, "The princess is missing!"

Both Claire's mother and father rushed to her bedroom. Her mother was at a loss for words, and her father went inside the room, to investigate. Soon, he found the small letter Claire left behind.

'Honey, look at this." He said, as he handed the letter to his wife.

The letter contained the words:

"Dear mum and dad,

I'm very sorry about all of this, I never meant to go against you so don't be mad. I'll be fine. And to dad, please stay at home today, until noon. Please.

Love, Claire.'

"This must be that Alexander kid's doing again!" her father raged.

"Calm down, dear, I'm sure Claire has a reason for all this. Trust her and wait for her until noon at least." Her mother said, holding his shoulder.

"… Alright, but only until noon."

**-Later that day, just before noon-**

A butler came inside the king's office and said,

"King, Mr. Saibara wish to see you."

"Saibara? Let him enter."

The butler let Mr. Saibara enter the room. Then he greeted,

"It has been a while Jr. Regison."

"Mr. Saibara, it has been too long. Sit down. What brings you here at this time of day?" he asked, his wife sitting beside him.

"I've come to tell you the truth." Mr. Saibara answered.

Mr. Regison looked confused and asked, "Truth? What truth?"

"The kids already came last night and I told them everything. Your daughter requested me to tell you everything as well."

**-Flashback to the night before-**

"Mr. Saibara, can you do me a favour?"

"What is it?"

"You see, I know I won't be much to convince my father, but with your help, we might be able to convince father and let him know the truth. Since you still have close ties with us, I'm sure he'll listen to you."

"But what about you? You're his daughter"

"Yes, I tried to convince him one way or another, but he always rages and never hears a word I say."

He sighed, "He's still stubborn as before is he. Runs in the family, I guess. Very well, I will try and tell your father everything."

"Thank you very much. I am indebt to you."

"No, no. It's the least I can do, after everything my family had done."

**-End of flashback-**

"Claire? Where is she?" Mr. Regison asked.

"Honey, listen to Mr. Saibara first, if it's what Claire wants." His wife said, as she put a hand on his back.

Mr. Regison agreed after thinking about it, then Mr. Saibara proceeded to tell them everything that he told the two the night before. After finishing what he had to say, Mr. Regison remained quiet, then he spoke,

"So that's the reason why we had such hatred."

"It may seem so. Isn't it a miracle that our children wanted to fix it, which we, the adults could not?" his wife said, feeling proud for what her daughter did.

"Yes, they're the last hope you have left from the two houses. I am sure something like this will not happen often." Mr. Saibara commented.

"I have been so foolish. I didn't even try to know the secret, nor did I try to listen to my daughter in that matter. And I feel bad for pushing that kid away." Mr. regison said, regretting what he did to both Claire and Cliff.

"Regison, if you may, your daughter is waiting for you outside." Mr. Saibara said. Both Mr. Regison and his wife looked at each other, then proceeded to head out.

Outside, they saw Claire, accompanied with Cliff. Claire was a bit reluctant to run towards them, fearing that things might go wrong, and that her father would be angry like the last time. Her father noticed her fear, and held out his hands, smiling. Claire beamed at her father's gesture and ran towards them,

"Mum, dad!" she called out, as she ran towards them, her father hugged her and apologized,

"I'm so sorry for not listening to you. You were trying to tell me all this from the start, weren't you?"

"It's okay, dad. We've cleared things up now." Claire answered, hugging her dad back.

Her father then looked at Cliff and said, "I'm sorry too, young Alexander, for hating your family over such a silly reason."

"That's okay, my family's always waiting for your reply." Cliff said.

"I understand, I'll do just that very soon." Her father said, then he let go of her daughter.

"That's great! Right Cliff?" Claire said, as she looked towards Cliff.

"Yeah!" Cliff replied, smiling.

"My, my, you two make a perfect match!" her mother commented, looking at the two.

"M-Mum!" Claire shouted, as both she and Cliff blushed.

**-Claire's P.O.V-**

_After all that, everything turned normal. I'm still treated as royalty at home, but I'm allowed to go to school again. And occasionally have my friends over, oh, and I'm also allowed to go out and hang out with my friends as long as Cliff was around. Father 'hired' him to be my 'guardian' outside of home. But I don't mind, as long as I can live a normal life like I wanted, and be with my friends, especially Cliff._

**Aaaand that's the end! Many thanks to all you who read this! Really! I'm very happy! But it doesn't end here! Of course, the main story is finished, but I'll add in an extra chapter. Be sure to read it! See you there!**


	15. Extra : Romeo and Cinderella

**Hello again! This is an extra chapter for you, readers! I won't tell any more details than that, so let's get it started! Enjoy!**

**Extra chapter – 'Romeo and Cinderella'**

**-Secret Base-**

"Everything's back to normal, huh." Chelsea stated, as she leant back on the chair.

"Yeah, no more after school search anymore." Jill said.

"Suddenly, our own 'adventure' seems to be over." Jack agreed.

"But that doesn't mean there's no more 'adventure'." Vaughn said, as sat down next to Chelsea.

""But you know, during our search for the Saibaras, I was thinking of how fairy-tale-like Cliff and Claire were." Mary said, as she looked at said two.

That caught the attention of both Cliff and Claire.

"What do you mean?" Claire asked.

"I mean, that you two were like the main characters from the story, Rapunzel." Mary explained.

"But Claire doesn't have that long hair Rapunzel has. I think they're more like Romeo and Juliet, you know, their two families were in bad terms and all." Jill countered. Chelsea also joined in on their discussion,

"But Romeo and Juliet had a tragic ending, Cliff and Claire doesn't, as you can all see. Since they reunited and all again, how about something like Cinderella?"

"Oh yeah, Cinderella was too locked up in her room when the prince was looking for her." Mary stated, as she clapped her hand in understanding.

"Then how about we change the story a little?" Jill proposed. Mary, Chelsea and Claire stared in confusion. The boys were already bored of the girls' conversation and decided to do something else.

"A new fairy tale story; inspired by Cliff and Claire. The hero is Romeo, the heroine is Cinderella." Jill started.

"I understand now! Let see, both Romeo and Cinderella fell in love with each other, but their families got into bad terms and couldn't meet as much. So Romeo secretly went to see Cinderella in her room, through her balcony, occasionally. Just like in 'Romeo and Juliet's story." Chelsea continued.

"Then, there's Mr. Saibara, like the Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet, who wanted to help us- I mean Romeo and Cinderella so that their families could reconcile." Claire too started.

"But the plot changes here, instead of the original Cinderella's stepmother, we have Cinderella's father, who didn't was his daughter to have any involvement with Romeo's family. So he locked Cinderella in her room." said Chelsea.

"And then, Romeo, on hearing that Cinderella was locked up, decided to pay her a visit once every two weeks." Mary continued, they girls were all hyped up to finish their story.

"Romeo tried to get Cinderella out of her room and take her away. After failing a second time, he finally got Cinderella out of her house." Jill continued the story,

"They visited Friar Laurence, in hopes that he would be able to reconcile the two families through their children's union. And so, Friar Laurence went to Cinderella's father and told him everything, from when the two families started to get on their bad terms and why." Chelsea continued, and then she looked at Claire and said, "Claire, you finish the story."

"Me? Um… Cinderella's father realized his mistake and allowed his daughter to m-marry Romeo, after reconciling with Romeo's family. Romeo and Cinderella overjoyed that their families finally made up with each other, and soon, they both married and lived happily eve after, The End." Claire finished, cheeks reddened a bit thinking about her and Cliff.

"Are they still talking about fairy tales?" Jack whiled, bored to the bone.

"It may seem so." Vaughn answered.

"What's so good about it anyway?" Jack asked.

"Maybe it's a girl thing." Skye said, sighing.

Then they heard Chelsea say, "Marry huh? Claire, do you want to get married with Cliff?"

"Wha-?!" Claire tried to retort, her cheeks now a bright red.

"Hey! Don't get me involved in your conversation!" Cliff shouted, his cheeks too bright red.

"A-anyway, i need to go to the restroom, I'll be right back! " Claire said, as she stood up and went out.

As sion as she left, the girls surrounded Cliff, and Chelsea asked,

"So Cliff, have you told her you love her yet? "

"N-not yet, since we know we love each other and all... " Cliff stammered in embarassment.

"What?! You haven't told her yet?! " Jill exclaimed in disbelieve.

"Is that bad? " Cliff asked.

Chelsea took him by the shoulders and started explaining,

"Tsk, tsk, Cliff. We girls like it more if the boys we love tells us that they love us. You really don't know how to plese a girl. "

The others nodded in agreement, then Cliff sighed and said,

"Alright, I'll tell her tonight. "

The others 'ooed' as he said that, then Claire came in and the others teased him even more.

**-That night, Regison mansion-**

Claire was in her balcony, she looked up and sighed, "I guess the night visits ends here, since everything is done. "

hen she heard a familiar voice saying, "Missing me so soon? "

Claire jumped a bit as she saw Cliff standing right below her balcony. He signalled for her to wait, as he climed up. As soon as he reched her, Claire asked,

"Cliff, what are you doing here? "

"I have something to tell you. "

"And that is-? "

"I-I just wanted to make sure you know that I... I really love you! " he saif, as he blushed a vibriant red.

".. M-me too! I really love you as well! Truth be told, I-I was waiting for you to tell me that. " claire confessed as she too blushed.

"A-and, it might be a bit early to say this, but, when we become elidgible, will you marry me? "

Claire froze for a moment, then smiled as she hugged him and gave her answer,

"Yes... Of course, I will marry you! "

**Finally, I'm done! I made a decision that I would finish this whole story before my holiday ends, and well, I did! Thank goodness. So? What do you think? Was it good, bad or boring? Thank you, if you enjoyed this fanfic from start to finish. And I'm very sorry, if you didn't like it. I'll try to improve as much as I can! Thanks again for reading till the end!**


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